Nitemc,

“If I only thin out certain areas on my tree (the areas I can reach), will all the clusters up top disrupt the quality of apple where I did the thinning?”

Yes; it will not allow sunlight to feed foliage below, will harbor pests and trap moisture conducive to disease.

“I can't reach 75% of my tree, do I just need a bigger ladder?”

My experience with large apple trees usually falls into two categories:

1) those who’d once been taken good care of, have a good basic form, were on more vigorous rootstock whose canopies have simply ‘thickened up’ from neglect. They’re big trees spaced for mass-production and lots of ladderwork!

2) backyard trees neglected at an early age; structure is poor, with few well developed limbs, where those limbs have one-time water-shoots growing off them like trees within a tree ... often as tall as the trees 'main structure!' But they’re usually on a ‘semi-dwarfing’ rootstock and are quite salvageable.

I’d inherited quite a few of the first example; too high to safely prune, thin, spray or harvest, most have been replaced with 3 new trees (for every giant) on semi-dwarfing rootstock. Several Giants were transformed by severe grafting (crown veneer & inverted L’s) into productive and manageable sized trees … but a very labor and knowledge-intensive job with iffy outcomes…

Type 2 are generally what I run into with friends and neighbors. If the tree’s 10 to 20 years old rejuvenation is entirely possible and I’ve rarely suggested they be removed (or headed). The process can easily take 3 years to tame them, especially if grafting (for pollination) and training is involved. But just the thought’s got my juices flowing!

I was recently admiring the magnificent fruit set on a local duel-grafted apple tree I’ve rejuvenated the last couple years. Though I now consider it a work of art, it had upright trees within the tree so tightly bunched two had ‘naturally grafted’ to their neighbor and had to be pounded out of the canopy. With serious ‘thinning’ like that - the trick is knowing what to leave and when to stop!

…Before I get too wound up I’ll let you describe: how tall, your guess at age, what diameter trunk, how far up are the first ‘lateral limbs’ and what you’d like to end up with … a cleaned up specimen reminiscent of an old time orchard tree -- or a modern tree with multiple varieties groomed for production?

Welcome aboard

Darn leaves Have you seen or tasted any apples..? With the difference in bark texture on the trunk, it may have been grafted to; thus having several varieties?

If it were mine… it would be an ideal candidate for a near total graft-over! The two ‘uprights’ on the left would be my choices to graft over to something else, likely a different variety on each… “Inverted L’s,” crowned with “Crown Veneer” grafts. Experience with grafting is like entering a new dimension - there's a new world of opportunities!

It would be a shame to eliminate the entire tree… It doesn’t appear too close to your house, is fully leafed out, no major dead limbs or apparent disease and has a great over-all shape (if ‘tall’). The right-side trunk / branches look as if they could be ‘tamed’ or trained to an accessible height. And like I said, the other two would be replaced…

It would be nice to know what you’ve got as far as fruit varieties; and, are there any apples forming? Also, nice photo – that really helps! I’d definitely enjoy the shade this summer then check out its apples this fall. You’d have all winter to decide if you wanted to attempt ‘my suggestion.’ You’d have another season to see if ‘it worked’ (with about half the shade), then time to hack / dig if things didn’t go. I don’t know how much of a gardener you are, but if you attempted to change over this tree you’d really have a conversation piece, a learning experience, and likely a productive apple tree long before you would if you start over. The trees I worked with were much much larger and older, but half of them ‘converted.’ You’d be in much better shape with a tree that age and ‘limbs’ that size.

Very roughly: After determining what variety(ies) you have this fall, you’d decide what you’d like in addition. Making sure you’ve got adequate pollination would be my priority; choosing a variety (technical term ‘cultivar’) that both pollinated and tastes good. You’d then have to locate that / those varieties and collect scion wood while they’re dormant; or get to our annual Scion Exchange.. With scion wood safe in your refrigerator, around next April (as the bark began to slip) you’d saw off the two ‘left’ limbs around five feet from where they meet the trunk. Drag off that 2/3’s of the tree, then saw cleaner cuts a foot or two further down those limbs.

Get out your scion's, your knife, small nails with heads, plumbers putty and latex grafting seal and begin inserting grafts on those pristine uprights! With the bark ‘slipping’ (as the saps rises), these 'bark grafts' are likely the easiest of all grafts to make! I actually ‘teach’ this at our yearly HOS event near Portland, Oregon (@ Clackamas Community College). It’s never as fun teaching it as doing it because we have our classes before the sap flows… But you basically make one slanting cut on the scion wood and insert it into the cuts you’d make into the bark of the tree; they’d slide in, you’d tack through them with those small nails, smear some plumbers putty in any openings then paint over it with store-bought “Doc Farwell’s” graft sealer (the yellow stuff).

That said – you may not be likely to take this project on; but as we’ve many readers - I’ve also given this brief description and advice to any who may have the same problem you do. And yes, I’d say your tree is a problem. If I could see the limb structure (without leaves) it would likely confirm neglect; a tree that was never trained and rarely if ever pruned… too bad, but there’s a million of ‘em out there. But it’s a shame (and a lot of work) to remove its root system simply to start over … if you really want apples. These trees can be re-worked, and if there was enough of an interest in it – I’d happily make a career of it. But it’s generally too specific an operation, needing extensive pruning and training... Excluding travel costs (if only around ‘my valley’) the hourly rate would likely go beyond the limit of most home owners … thus this Do-It-Yourself advice ~

What I’ve just described doing was nearly the first grafting I’d ever done! I’d read several books, which helped me understand the principals involved, but an Extension Service publication with excellent photos and a basic description is all I used. Likely all my ‘grafts’ took! The problem was there wasn’t enough of them to feed a ten inch diameter limb with no remaining (‘feeder’) limbs; so that limb would partially die and I’d remove the entire tree. But those that didn’t are like works of art! And with a ‘young’ tree like yours – candy!

So if you want a project you’ll never forget, with living evidence of your success – cause you’d remove the failure - here’s your chance! I can’t provide all the input, you’d have to do your homework, too. But I guarantee it’s quite doable and would certainly been a fun project to follow – with pictures! Me, I’d take your tree in a second – I’ve even got a spot for it!