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Wild apples are a favorite food for white-tailed deer and black bears, as well as for other animals including raccoons, rabbits, and even coyotes and foxes. Many woodlots n Ontario have areas of neglected orchards or pastures with will apple trees. These trees will continue to produce fruit for wildlife, and for yourself if they are pruned regularly and competing growth is removed. With a few simple pruning tools and basic techniques you can increase the amount of apples your trees produce and increase the amount of food available to wildlife.
On our woodlot we have several areas of abandoned pasture, which have large numbers of wild apple trees. Instead of planting these areas with conifers or allowing natural regeneration, we have been removing competition and are pruning the apple trees to increase the food available for deer, as we hunt this area every fall. As well, my father and I have frost seeded these areas with a clover mix to decrease weed competition, provide forage for wildlife and to increase the nitrogen available for the wild apple trees present. Although we still have many trees which require pruning, we have noticed that deer will visit these trees to feed on the apple buds, fresh fruit and even dig through the snow to eat the frozen wind falls well into March.
Wild apple trees will bear fruit every one or two years and the amount produced and quality will vary from year to year. Remember that fruit production depends on factors other than pruning. Drought and spring frosts may seriously decrease the amount of fruit, which is produced in a given year. Be patient as some trees may not produce for several years and others may bear bushels the first year after pruning.
Pruning
The goal of pruning is to force the tree to produce fruit and to limit upward or lateral growth. When you start to prune do not cut more that a few feet of the overall height of the tree in one year and don?t remove more than a third of the tree at any one time. Removing too many branches at one time may cause undue stress and it may take the tree several years to recover. Pruning over a two to three year period allows the tree to heal gradually and completely while still producing fruit. Heavy pruning in the first year often shocks the tree and it may not produce fruit at all for two or more years
If possible prune your wild apple trees in the late winter or early spring. There is less chance of fungus or disease entering the wounds of his time of year. As well, pruning in the dead winter has a tendency to cause the tree to dry out or split heavily before the wound has begun to heal in the spring. You may want to use latex paint or commercial tree wound paint to cover the wound, but this is not necessary if you prune when the tree is dormant. Remember to make all your pruning cuts flush with the collar of the tree. The collar is slight swelling where the branch meets the main trunk of the tree. Making cuts at this point will allow the wound to heal more quickly. Branch stubs left on the tree take longer to heal than flush cuts at the collar and will leave larger surface area for disease and rot to enter the tree. When cutting larger branches make a small undercut at the collar and then make the top cut one inch from the bottom cut. This allows the branch to break off evenly without stripping off a large section of living bark. When the branch has been removed trim the excess wood from the collar.
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