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How to Prune Columnar Apple Trees
How to Prune Columnar Apple Trees. Columnar apple trees, also known as colonnade apple trees, were bred to grow tall and narrow, unlike traditional apple trees, which spread their branches wide. In small yards or urban gardens the columnar apple tree is perfect because it takes up less room. These apple trees produce standard size fruit but on much...
Columnar apple trees, also known as colonnade apple trees, were bred to grow tall and narrow, unlike traditional apple trees, which spread their branches wide. In small yards or urban gardens the columnar apple tree is perfect because it takes up less room. These apple trees produce standard size fruit but on much shorter, horizontal branches than those of standard apple trees.
Things You'll Need
Columnar apple tree
Hand pruners
Cut or pick off any apples that form on the tree the first growing season. The tree needs time to adjust and to grow strong roots.
Cut off suckers growing from the base of the tree. A columnar apple tree is a grafted tree. This means the part of the tree that bears the apples is different from the root stock the columnar apple tree is grafted to. All suckers should be cut back to the trunk's surface. They rob the tree of nutrients and water.
Prune any dead wood in the winter when the tree is dormant. A dead branch has no flex and will be lighter in color than the other branches. Cut back to a main, healthy fork in the branch, or all the way to the trunk if the entire branch is dead.
Prune every horizontal branch to a 1-foot distance from the main trunk. This keeps the branch strong enough to carry the weight of the standard size apples.
Cut off any vertical suckers growing right above a healthy branch collar. This means suckers that are growing above the graft collar, which is down nearer the tree base.
Keep healthy side spurs growing off the horizontal branches. Completely prune smaller, non-bearing branches that take up space.
Thin out the number of apples on the branches when the fruit starts forming. Thin more fruit out at the top of the tree than on the lower branches. Lower branches are older and therefore stronger.
Tips & Warnings
Columnar apple trees can even be grown in containers on patios. Their average height is about 9 feet.
Spray or wipe the pruners periodically with rubbing alcohol to sterilize the metal. Pruning a tree is a form of surgery.
When pruning make clean, all-the-way-through cuts. Don't rip any portion of the pruned branch away from the trunk. This will make it difficult for the wound to heal and may invite disease.
