262 



The Commercial Apple Industry 



FIG. 6. An exces- 

 sively pruned young De- 

 licious tree carved out 

 to the vase form. 



Open center, or vase-shape (Fig. 6). 



The open center type of train- 

 ing was the first definite system 

 generally advocated after commer- 

 cial apple-growing became estab- 

 lished in this country on a highly 

 specialized basis. It was for a 

 time quite generally adopted by 

 fruit-growers in all sections of the 

 United States as the ideal method 

 of training and is still advocated 

 by some professional horticultur- 

 ists and is practiced by many 

 fruit-growers. The development 

 of certain weaknesses in the 

 strictly vase-shaped tree has led to a modification of this 

 type of pruning, however. 



In starting an open center tree, one-year-old whips are 

 usually headed at 20 to 26 inches at planting time. The 

 following winter or spring three to five well distributed 

 branches are usually chosen to form the permanent frame- 

 work of the tree, the leader being removed the first year. 

 The three to five main branches growing outward and 

 upward give the vase-like shape to the tree. After the first 

 season's growth, all the leaders are cut back heavily to 

 approximately the same height. Equal cutting is con- 

 tinued each year until the framework is completed, in order 

 that no one of the main scaffold branches may attain prom- 

 inence over the other. The center is kept sufficiently open 

 to permit the penetration of light throughout the tree. 

 The result is a spreading low-headed tree, sufficiently open 

 to permit good coloring of the fruit. 



