-3- 



earlier production. The extra limbs also help to produce wide angles by forcing 

 the scaffold limbs to grow outward instead of growing in a more upright position. 



To learn more about this system of pruning, in March of 1962, 458 one, two 

 and three year old Delicious and Mcintosh trees were selected for a pruning demon- 

 stration at the Marshall Orchard in Fitchburg. Approximately 1/2 of the trees 

 v;ere pruned the ordinary way with the complete removal of undesirable branches. 

 On the remaining trees, the undesirable branches were shortened to about 6 to 12 

 inches. Trunk circumference measurements were taken at the beginning of the 

 demonstration and during November, 1962 and 1963. The data in Table 1 show that 

 the stub pruned trees made more grovjth, as indicated by increase in trunk circum- 

 ference, than the trees pruned the regular way. 



Table 1. Increase in Trunk Circumference of Stub Pruned Trees in Comparison to 

 Those Receiving Regular Pruning. 



Variety 



Trees 

 Planted 



Stub Pruned 



Avg. Increase in Trunk 

 Circumference (3/62-11/63) 



Re;;ular Pruned 



Delicious 



1939 

 1960 

 1961 



cms . 

 6.02 



5.83 

 6.49 



cms. 

 5.82 

 5.30 



5.94 



Mcintosh 



1960 

 1961 



6.17 

 5.86 



5.36 



5.69 



The writer is of the opinion, however, that stub pruning only should be 

 practiced by those growers who carefully prune young trees annually. 



Sucker growth from many stubbed 

 branches was 3-4 feet in length at 

 the end of the first growing season. 

 These very vigorous shoots from the 

 stubbed limbs with narrow crotches 

 were apt to be upright and interfere 

 V7ith the development of scaffold 

 limbs above. It seemed necessary to 

 cut back these vigorous shoots se- 

 verely. Consequently, the writer 

 suggests that most limbs with nar- 

 row crotches be completely removed 

 rather than stub pruned in spite of 

 the somewhat better overall growth 

 where stub pruning is practiced. 



Sometimes a bud on the lower 

 side of a stubbed branch will de- 

 velop into a desirable shoot. As 

 shown in Figure 1, the growth may 

 be more horizontal than the branch 

 from which it originates. 



Figure 1. The arrow points to the location 

 where the branch was stubbed in March 1962. 

 The limb originating from the stub bears the 

 white tag. Picture taken November 20, 1963. 



