Here is how our overgrown tree looked after step 1 of our crabapple pruning was completed. See Crabapple Pruning in 4 Easy Steps: Overgrown Mess No More (Part 1 of 3) for details. Now, we will continue onto step 2, water sprout removal.
CRABAPPLE PRUNING: WATER SPROUT REMOVAL
Water sprouts are shoots that grow from the trunk of a tree or from branches that are several years old. They grow from a dormant bud usually straight up as the result of excessive pruning or a damaged branch.
The 2nd step was to remove the water sprouts that grew from the lower branches. These shoots grow from below a lower branch up into the area of a higher branch. These are easy to recognize when looking at the structure of a tree in the winter. They are the branches other than the leader that is growing straight up. Removing them improves the structure of the tree and prevents major problems in the future.
Summer pruning tends to suppress growth of suckers and water sprouts that can result from pruning earlier in the year. This mid-August time frame was a great time to do this heavy pruning of the tree and not trigger even more regrowth in the spring. I admittedly did prune off a large amount of the flowers that the tree would have had in the spring. It will have more flowers in the following years as the rootstock sucker growth will not be stealing energy from the rest of the tree.
CRABAPPLE PRUNING: REMOVING BRANCHES GROWING IN ODD WAYS
Branches growing in odd directions are usually the result of a shoot getting stuck and it grew in the wrong direction for a number of years. As they grow they thicken and are stuck in their odd position.
The 3rd step is to look for any branches that have been growing oddly, such as:
– back towards the middle of the trunk after growing outward,
– down towards the ground,
– 90 degree or greater bends.
This tree had a classic example of this. There is no way that this branch is going to be fixed. When it was young and had not formed wood, it probably could have been unstuck from its odd position. After several years of wood forming, it is not going anywhere except in the debris pile. Out comes the pruning saw.
Next time, I will cover one more necessary step in all overgrown crabapple pruning. As well as one additional step that your tree may or may not need. Click here to read it now.
Karen says
March 30, 2013 at 4:40 pmI read with interest your posts about crabapple pruning. I was only able to find the first two posts. Was there a third? I have an old crabapple tree (I don’t know how old. It was here when we moved in and is probably 15′ tall. When is the best time of year to prune it. I keep finding conflicting information making me wonder if it matters when I do it.
Jim says
March 30, 2013 at 8:18 pmKaren,
Part 3 is here (http://www.jimanderson.net/overgrown-crabapple-pruning-part/)
The best time to prune is the summer if you want to get the least sucker and water sprout growth if you do heavy cuts. However, for light pruning it can be done anytime. Winter pruning is also great for being able to see the tree without those distracting leaves. So I guess, my answer is anytime, but different times have different benefits.
Daisy says
August 25, 2013 at 12:30 pmWe live in Ky. and moved into a house that had a overgrown mess of a crabapple tree in the back yard. It is probably 15 years old. We paid a professional to trim it last fall and the tree has gone crazy. It looks aweful and is so heavy with crabapples the limbs look as if they will break. Was this normal? Suggestions please, we don’t want to chop it down and could care less how many berries it produces but we do want it to look decent and not hang over fence into neighbors yards. My husband said we can’t trim until after crabapples drop. Is this true?
Thanks,
Daisy
Jim says
August 26, 2013 at 4:49 amDaisy you can prune crabapples before they drop their fruit. It causes no problems. Take a look at a few other posts I have written lately on pruning. This one is specifically about crabapples and this one gives some guidance on how to prune it to make it for aesthetics.
I would suggest thinning the tree out.
Richard says
March 11, 2016 at 11:18 amJim, my two old crab-apple trees were heavily pruned by ‘professionals’ two years ago. This year it is obvious that there are thin shoots going straight up at top of both of the trees. I presume these are water shoots. Should I remove them from where they emerge from the branch, or can I just shorten them?
I have a photo of one in it’s winter state if there was a way to attach it…..
Jim says
March 12, 2016 at 10:10 pmYou can do a little of both. Remove most, but leave and shorten some to make into proper branches.