We moved into a new house a few years ago with a few mature apple trees..one of the trees (transparent apples) has been trained into a good open vase shape. The three branches go up to about 8 to 10 ft and then have been trained back towards the ground to about 6 feet off the ground. At the highest point on each of the branches is where the most water shoots come out of every year. Each winter I have pruned them off but over the years it has left a large knotty ball on each branch (see photo). Should I remove these or should they be left on?
The water sprouts should be pruned as close to the main trunk as possible. Pruning them high, as shown, just encourages more shoots and enlarges the lump from which they are growing. It also helps to prune water sprouts during the summer, as soon as they make an appearance. I would cut off the smaller lumps with several shoots on each one, thereby reducing the number of growing points for new shoots. Over a period of several years you should be able to reduce the size of the large lumps, a little at a time.
Hi, I have had the same issue with renovating old apple trees in Birken, BC. Every spring I cut off lots of water sprouts as close as possible to the branch and the next year they're all back. My research suggests that I should keep removing them when they are small right up to the end of June. I will do that this year but should I still remove all of them now or stagger it over a couple of years. I worry that I'm just encouraging really vigorous growth, rather than apples. Some of the ones I pruned last year are now 3' tall! Thanks, Eileen
If you are getting lots of water sprouts and not many apples, one fairly drastic tactic that works is to girdle the tree or branches. I did this with a large apple tree that had been neglected and needed to be pruned back. After it was pruned heavily it suckered like crazy for years and produced few apples. I had read about girdling to increase flowering; so I tried it on a few branches at first. It was quite effective, and eventually I pruned main branches that were about a foot in diameter. The girdling definitely increased flowering and apple production and reduced suckering. The girdling should be done around flowering time by removing a narrow strip of bark (with all phloem tissue) completely around the trunk or branch. The width of the removed strip should be 1/8" to 1/4", depending on the diameter of the section girdled. There is plenty of information on the Web about this practice.
Eileen: You need to follow up your pruning regimen with another waterspout pruning in late summer/early fall: you want to cut back any that have re-grown over the summer at a time when it is too late in the season for them to grow back. By the end of June there is still a good 3 months or so for them to re-grow, which is what is happening for you. I maintain several old orchards, each with venerable old (and some young) apples, and this has proven to be the best schedule for keeping them manageable. You might keep some of the waterspouts cut back to a couple of buds on any bare portions of branch where you might want to generate spurs: pruned back this way over a couple of season, new spurs will form at these points. These decisions depend on the particular tree, but in general, try the second pruning later in the season and you should see some improvement over time.
