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Fruit trees - prune them now?

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sunmoonstarstoo · 14/11/2012 16:31

We have three fruit trees in our garden, cooking apple (6 yrs old), eating apple (5 yrs old) and plum (1.5 yrs old).

The eating apple has definitely suffered this year, I'm very inexperienced but from looking online suspect scab due to the wet weather this year?? Pity, because last year it had lots of apples and they were very tasty. This year there were only a couple of tiny apples in early summer that then fell off, the leaves were all blotchy and started falling off too. The cooking apple tree isn't as bad but possibly is also affected as the apples, while plentiful, were scabby and some leaves are also blotchy.

The plum tree had quite a few blossom but then only one plum on in the early summer which then fell off or was attacked by the birds. However, it has grown very tall in the short time we've had it.

I've been pruning the apple trees each year and letting the hamster gnaw the twigs.

If they do indeed have scab, should I be chopping them down or is it worth pruning them again and hoping they recover?

Should I prune the plum tree and when can I expect it to bear fruit? It is probably about 10 ft tall although very slender and young.

Thanks and sorry for my ignorance! Wink

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