Apple trees

[dorisday]

I have two large old apple trees, one cooking and one eating. They both badly need pruning. When should I do it, and can I be quite severe with them?

[drochit]

I culled this from a web site. If you google for 'prune apple tree' you'll get enough info to keep you out of mischief for quite some time.
Keep the simple reasons for pruning in mind when you head outside with the pruning shears, and you'll do just fine. Your aims are to create a strong tree that will bear the weight of all those bushels of apples, to allow sunlight to penetrate the tree so that all your apples have nice red cheeks (unless they're 'Yellow Delicious', of course!), and to keep the branches low enough to reach without hauling out the ladder. Most young fruit trees are already trained to a sturdy basic shape when you buy them, with main branches selected and in place. All you have to do is thin the growth as the tree fills out, and occasionally snip out the top of the tree or taller branches to keep it down to size.

[dorisday]

Thank you very much, hopefully I will have time this weekend to start on them. I can see a nice bonfire coming on too!! D

[incitatus]

do be sure to seal the branch wounds with arbrex or stockholm tar to prevent infection

[KARL]

Just saw the third answer - sealing wounds after pruning is now considered an absolute no-no because that tends to increase the likelihood of disease (so the experts say). I lost one of three apple trees to disease after I pruned and sealed when moving into our house where everything had been neglected for as much as 20 years, although I cannot say for certain sealing did it. One of the other two got the same disease and is only now good again after 25 years since pruning. Beware of disease entering wounds, read all about it