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An apple a day

Forget the traditional winter prune – cut back your apples as soon as the fruit is picked.

The apple is a very noble tree if left to its own habit of growth. They grow somewhere from about six to eight metres high, and about the same in girth. Apple trees can be very large trees considering where most people will plant them these days. The apple tree (Malus domestica) is a deciduous tree from the rose family known for its sweet fruit, and is the most widely grown in the Malus genus.

Apples can be grown from seed, but they do not stay true to type, so it’s necessary to graft them.

The growing season

The apple grown in Australia has had quite a hard time being understood. The problem is that we have followed instructions in books from people who are considered experts on apples and other fruit in countries and climates that are nothing like ours. This has resulted in us having to unlearn some of the things taught even at horticultural college – me included.

Our climate is certainly not European. I agree with the Aboriginal calendar that says we have six seasons, not four. In spring we get a windy season, and at the end of January we get the hot season.

Don’t prune in June

This very fact changes how we should prune in Australia. We were taught to prune in June, which means pruning against outward-facing buds. Of course, because we have mild winters by comparison, the first thing the tree does is grow quickly rather than flower first before growing.

Pruning should be carried out straight after the fruit has been picked – generally summer or autumn. Avoid winter pruning at all cost, because you’ll send the tree into vigorous growth again. In Australia the apple starts out life as a freshly grafted tree and is planted into the ground in spring at bud swell once the soil temperature warms a little.

All the while the buds continue to swell until they burst into flower awaiting the pollination from bees, insects and birds. It only takes a couple of weeks before these fruitlets start to form, and this is where we really need to start paying attention to the tree.

Vasili’s Garden


Vasili Kanidiadis is a celebrity gardener and host of Vasili’s Garden on 7TWO. He also runs
a Melbourne-based gardening business and cafe that serves wood-fired pizza. For more information on Vasili’s Garden see vasilisgarden.com