Hi All, Lane County Extension Service Master Gardener John Fischer here with KLCC's Good Gardening.
Sometimes your garden can produce too much of a good thing, or the good things it produces are difficult or impossible to get at. Fruit trees (and almost all other trees) keep growing, meaning more and more of the fruit they produce is farther and farther from the ground.
Unless you keep growing as fast as the trees, you'll need either a taller ladder or shorter trees. And as you get older, staying closer to the ground while picking your backyard bounty is the safer choice - so I've been told.
Keeping your trees low and pickable is a lifelong process, but if life got too busy and the trees got too tall, you'll need to take drastic measures to get trees back to short ladder picking height.
The general rule is to take no more than one third of the tree off each year, so getting an overgrown tree back into shape may take more than one pruning season. When cutting off a large branch, take it off a foot above your final objective, so that bark peeling can be kept under control. Then make a second cut with less tree above it, and you'll find it much easier to manage. Make your cuts clean, leave the branch collar, and don't paint anything on the cut end.
Another strategy to keep harvesting easy is to keep your trees lower all the time. Dwarf trees will generally stay under 10 feet tall, but due to their smaller root system, they should be held up with two strong stakes - forever
An espaliered tree is supported by, and confined to a framework that keeps the tree wide, low and easy to harvest and prune. Because the wood of the tree will provide much of the support needed, the framework may not need to be as robust as a grape arbor - simple wires between posts can be sufficient. An espaliered tree needs to be kept low with pruning, but the extra work also produces a beautiful plant that can serve as a live fence, or an anchor in your yard or garden.
I'm John Fischer with Good Gardening.
