yes the apple tree is in a spot where i have some raised beds to grow other things,I just don't want them to be too shaded and the peach is along side my garden area and is only getting about three hours of sun,lots of small peaches but not ripping good
Oh yea, I just cut fown my Golden Delicious apple tree for the same reason. I planted a Japanese Snowbell tree in it's place. Then the wind recently took down my other apple tree.
Allen, I wrote an article about training your plants as espaliers which may be of interest to you. The Atlanta Botanical Garden has a number of fruit trees trained in this fashion and they produce lots of fruit. Here is the link
It's almost never a good idea to remove more than one-third of a tree or shrub at a time. It sounds like you're pushing that limit and may want to turn this into a two-step process. You are going to have significant annual pruning-summer and winter-to keep the trees to the size you are suggesting, but an espaliered tree will produce a significant amount of fruit, so I don't know why yours wouldn't either. You may want to check out this article on fruit tree pruning and training from the
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Erica, espaliers are gorgeous, but one really needs to start with a whip to get them going.
Allen, it is important that you prune these trees correctly for good fruit production. Why do you want to cut 5 feet off the tree? Perhaps you should remove the tree and plant one on a dwarfing rootstock if you need a smaller tree.
I would suggest you look at fruit tree information from your cooperative extension service.
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http://www.ericaglasener.com/articles/espali...
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/ag29....
Allen, it is important that you prune these trees correctly for good fruit production. Why do you want to cut 5 feet off the tree? Perhaps you should remove the tree and plant one on a dwarfing rootstock if you need a smaller tree.
I would suggest you look at fruit tree information from your cooperative extension service. ...»
Good luck.