-2- 



Il:e Fruiting habit of apples. It is the purpose of the reminder of this 

 article to discuss some of the fundamentals concerning the bearing habit of apple 

 trees, an understanding of v^hich is essential to an intelligent job of pruning, 

 ether phases of pruning will be discussed in coming issues. Apple flcwer buds are 

 formed terminally on spurs although with some srarieties quite a few may be formed 

 terminally or laterally on shoots. Tliese flower buds are known as mixed buds 



Terminal shoot 

 bud - usually a 

 /y leaf bud but may 

 ■ ~ be a flovrer bud 



19^2 



on some varieties. 



ULeaf 

 'bud. 



19^2) 

 Cro-:th 



Leaf bud. On some 

 varieties flovrer 

 -buds may develop 

 in this position. 



1951 



^ 



Young spur 

 -with flovrer 

 bud. 



Young spur 

 -Ydth leaf 

 bud. 



Spnr 



l^:Sf 



1952 ^^,>'^- 



/* /Cluster 

 1951/ J ^^2® 



M 



Flower 1950I 

 bud I 



19U9/ ' 

 -n 



Latent 

 bud. 



A dormant 

 shoot 



Spur 

 development 



I 



because they contain not only flovrers but Itaf parts dji contrast to leaf buds which 

 contain only unexpanded leaves or the flower buds of peach vrhich contain only 

 flowers. If it were not for the presence of the unexpanded shoot within the flo-«/er 

 bud "no leaves vrould be formed on the flowering spurs, and the chances are that such 

 a spur vrauld die following flowering and fruiting. This axillary shoot which arises 

 within a flower bud will grow off to the side from a fraction of an inch to several 

 inches long, It is the growth of the axil^.ary shoot fonned within a flower bijd 

 which causes the so-called zigzag growth which o-^.jurs when a flower bud is formed on 

 a spur. Sometimes two shoots ?rise from the cluster Isse and the spur becomes forked.' 

 If no flower bud is formed the growth is in a straight line. Of coui'se, no matter 

 how old a spur may be the flower buds are always formed on the one-year growth even 

 though the growth may be but a fraction of an inch lone. 



In considering hov; much pruning to do on a variety, one should take into 

 account the number of flower buds present and rf''ere the bulk of them are located. 

 Generally they can be detected in the fall and winter because of their large size, 

 Hov/ever, on Baldwin it is often difficult to distinguish flovrer buds from leaf buds 

 "oy any difference in size. Vifith Rome Beauty a large proportion of the flower buds 

 are borne on the ends of shoots. On vigorous Yfealthy trees large numbers of flower 

 buds are formed along the sides of the vigorous shoots in the tops of the trees. 

 Fruits formed from these lateral flowers on shoots are generally smaller than 

 termirLally borne fruits on spurs or shoots since lateral flower buds bloom later 

 than spur buds and the fact th^t so many are produced in a limited area. Hence, the 

 bearing habit of a variety is one factor to consider in pruning. 



