Apple Tree Dig

[Akhi]

It was a cold morning in Adelaide and my little helper and I got in a car on an apple tree hunt. And the apple tree we found, I learnt was planted by the lady of the house which was now up for demolition following her passing away. The original tree was about three metres tall and wide and thankfully was not too wide. Unfortunately I didn't capture pictures of the tree but by the looks of the gnarled branches looked like an old tree which had not seen a lot of pruning for a very long time.

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However by the time I got the little pruning saw out all that was left was some straight branches without a lot of character to them. But I am patient with this one and expect to be updating this progression for a very long time.
After the dig (which was exhausting particularly with the heavy wet soil making life difficult as the clay stuck to the shovel) I cleaned the trunk and cut off the roots that were at the elevated level.

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As I was not well prepared ended up buying the largest pot from Bunnings, two bags of potting mix and some aggregate from a landscape supply to provide some coarse material. I also added some citrus fertilizer to it. I added a layer of polystyrene pieces at the bottom for some assed drainage as the pot is pretty large.

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I have placed it in shade for now and will move it into the sun once new buds begin to show.
My plan with this material is to create a large Bonsai ~1-1.5 metres from pot to tip something along the lines of the following:

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Pictures from different angles:

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I have left on branch a little long as it has a shoot with some buds on it so hoping that will draw the energy for the other buds on the tree. Do I really need to do this or is it ok to cut it to a chop. Do you thing there is hope for this tree?

[CraigM]

Nice tree, will interesting to see what you do with this one. Like the view where you show the tree potted up and watered.

[delisea]

That looks like great fun. If it were mine i would chop the branches back much harder. The new shoots should come from the buds closest to where you cut.

[Akhi]

Delisea can you please suggest where you would cut?

[delisea]

I would not leave much more than 5 cm. I would chop down to the first dormant bud that is pointing in the dierction you want. Iwould also take my advice with a pinch of salt as the apple i was working on didnt wake up this spring.

[shibui]

Both the sample trees you have shown as models have a single upright trunk. If you want to produce a similar tree to those you'll need to cut off all the large branches on your tree. At this stage you will only have a trunk - branches will be developed over the next 3-5 years.
Look for a desirable trunk line from base to apex. I can see there is a nicely tapering trunk line through to the thinner, vertical apex but it is very straight which can be uninteresting but I note that your first sample tree - with red apples- has an almost straight trunk so maybe that's what you want. In that case, cut all existing side branches off flush with the trunk and regrow new branches from any buds that pop out.
There are also several slightly more curved trunklines using one or other of the large branches. In most cases you'll also need to cut all other branches off at the base and start again as above. There's one smaller side branch that you might be able to use but even it will need to be cut back much shorter so that it will produce more shoots closer to the trunk to build the ramification.
From what I can see, none is technically better than any others so the decision might just come down to your personal preferences. It is your tree so you need to take responsibility for decisions.

There is usually one advantage to cutting the trunk above the first branch - only one scar to hide/heal.
To use any of the side branches as an apex you'll probably need to tilt the trunk slightly to bring the apex closer to being above the base (informal upright) so check whether one side has slightly higher roots so that tilting will not see some roots sticking out of the soil.

[Akhi]

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[Akhi]

Has put forth some decent growth after having been decimated by possums!


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[Akhi]

Some of the old thick branches are showing Shrivelled bark and a portion of the main trunk seems to have died too. Do you think this a fungal infection or something or just the tree sorting itself out?


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