Apple tree

[Pixie_Dust]

Does anyone else have an apple tree? We have a Gravenstein in its first year of friuting. It's an early variety so we'll see soon enough how it turns out.
Do you use white paint on the tree trunks, and how/why?

This is an off season question, but in pruning an apple tree, are you supposed to cut back the branches or just prune out the branches you don't want? I kept being told "prune it like a rose," and I understood to make it a goblet shape, but I did not know if that meant cutting the branches back to a foot or two the way you do with rose canes.

Cheers

 

[Snowwark]

Hi Pixie_Dust!

I don't have any fruit trees, so I'm hoping that another Bud who does can give you some advice on pruning. In the meantime I did find some information on trunk painting.

Trunk Painting For Bark Protection

White latex paint applied annually to tree trunks helps protect against killing of cambium or bark from sudden temperature changes in late fall and winter. Painting the lower trunk makes it easier to detect insect borer infestation, and may deter them. Addition of rabbit repellent to the paint protects young trees from bark stripping by rabbits during the winter.

To make trunk paint, mix one gallon of white interior latex paint into 4 to 5 quarts of water. Do not use oil-based paint. If needed, add rabbit repellent as per the label directions.

Mix these well, and pour the final mix through a nylon stocking to filter out lumps that would clog the sprayer nozzle. Hand-pump backpack sprayers work well for application.

If protection from rabbits is not needed, omit repellent from the mix and spray only the south half of the trunk and lower scaffolds. It is only the lower parts of the tree exposed to warming by sunlight that need protection of the reflective paint. For best weather resistance, latex paint should be applied during mild (50oF or higher) dry weather.

I hope this is of some help.

Kim