Growth and Fruiting Responses of `Redchief Delicious' Apple Trees to Heading Cuts and Scaffold Limb Removal

Abstract

Three-year-old `Campbell Redchief Delicious'/MM.111 [Malus domestica (Borkh.)] trees were subjected to a factorial arrangement of annual pruning treatments (removal of excess scaffold limbs vs. no removal, heading the terminal extension shoot on scaffold limbs vs. no heading) plus a treatment involving gradual removal of excess scaffold limbs. Six years after treatments were initiated, pruning treatment did not influence tree height or trunk size. Tree spread was greatest for nonheaded trees. Although yield, yield efficiency, and gross returns were reduced by either type of pruning, there was significant interaction between limb removal and heading. Compared to no limb removal or heading, limb removal plus heading reduced cumulative gross returns by ≈ $12,800/ha.