Slow-growing apple varieties can easily be cultivated in pots on the balcony or terrace, where they produce wonderfully juicy, aromatic apples. As with all fruit trees, it is important to prune these trees regularly and professionally.
How to prune the apple tree in the pot?
In principle, apple trees cultivated in a planterare cut in the same way as those in the gardenHowever, this happensalready in spring or after the harvest. Since the trees grafted on a weakly growing rootstock only grow very slowly, less is cut off.
What do you have to consider when pruning the container apple?
If you want the small apple to form a beautifulcrown,you have to cut the tree through yourpruningwhen forming the samesupport:
- First cut out all injured and dried shoots.
- Three to four strong side shoots form the crown together with the leading branch that projects vertically upwards. Remove all remaining branches at the point of attachment.
- Cut back side shoots by a third to a maximum of half.
- Take out branches that grow over one another or protrude inwards.
How are columnar apples cut in the bucket?
Thepruning measures for these apple trees are quite straightforward. It is important that even as the apple tree grows older in the pot, only short side branches grow from a steep central shoot on which the fruits form.
Prune the apple tree as follows:
- Cut off longer side branches directly at the trunk.
- Short branching fruit shoots to around 15 centimeters.
- If the central shoot becomes too tall, cut it off above a flat side branch in August.
Tip
Several varieties on one apple tree
Sometimes the apple tree in pot cultivation does not bear fruit because there is no suitable pollinator in the neighborhood. An ideal solution in this case are slow-growing apple trees in which more than one apple variety has been grafted onto one rootstock. The two variants that bloom at the same time serve as pollen donors for each other.
