0:00
Today I'm back at my apple tree that I started from seed away back in 2015
0:07
Here you can see last September has stopped growing for this season and a few of the leaves have changed colour
0:12
If I come in closer you can see a lot of them are starting to turn a lovely dark red colour
0:18
In October there was quite a few more yellows and oranges in there
0:24
oranges in there. It's a bit leggy but I think in the future this tree could have a very nice
0:28
display at this time of year. In November there's only a few leaves holding on and we can start to
0:34
see the structure a little more clearly. I think there's going to be plenty of pruning happening
0:39
pretty soon. I hear the leaves close up. You can really see they've changed a lot of colour since
0:48
the start of autumn. I really like it when they're this yellowy orange colour
0:54
In December it's fully dormant so it's just going to be left until the end of winter
1:01
In February it's time to finally deal with this mess. It grew really well last season but now it needs pruned back
1:13
I started by just removing this stub. It was pretty long and ugly and there's no point keeping it there any longer
1:21
I just pretty much shortened everything back I got rid of all the badly pressed blanches last year so I didn really need to remove much No major cuts anyway i just trimmed everything back you can see it still pretty messy but overall it not the worst
1:37
i think it has some potential obviously it needs a lot more development and ramification
1:42
but as far as a primary structure goes i think i can work with this and as you can see i was bending some branches down i think some wire at some point could really
1:52
help this tree. At the start of March the buds are swelling although they're pretty hard to see from
1:58
here. Maybe you can see them a little better from here. I don't think you can but the tree is starting
2:08
to wake up which means it's the perfect time to repot. Maybe you can see the buds now. There's
2:14
definitely a few leaves open in here so it's definitely the right time to be doing the work
2:18
Normally I would try and rake the top layer of soil out, but it had a good feeling that
2:23
a little karate chop might work on this tree, and it did. It came straight out. It's been in here for two years, so I'm expecting a lot of roots
2:33
and that is exactly what I got. I then just start trying to loosen everything and untangle it all
2:41
The soil is still quite loose, so that's a good thing. Look at this root here it crazy long It always blows my mind just how long the
3:08
roots can get on these little trees. Here is the root ball with all the soil off
3:17
It isn't too bad. There are a few long roots but overall it isn't too bad
3:23
This root here is ridiculously high so it has to go. I then just started t everything back, just to get back to a more manageable size
3:40
And here's what I was left with
3:55
It's not too bad. It's not the best root ball I've ever seen
3:59
but it's flat and it's radial, so I'm happy enough of it. It's only going to keep getting better
4:07
I didn't just put it up in the same pot since it's doing pretty well in there. Here in April you can see the leaves are pretty much open now
4:35
And I put a few stones on the pod just because it got a little windy outside and I didn't want anything to blow away
4:45
In May it's looking very happy. All the new growth is out and it seems very healthy
4:54
In June it's a little too leggy so I pruned it back. I'd actually forgotten I did this
5:02
I was looking at the tree the other day and wondering why it hadn't grown too much
5:05
Clearly it's been growing very well it just this is my pruning that's keeping it short
5:11
I just shortened everything back here it was all pretty simple. That's probably why I had forgotten I did it
5:20
and here it is after looking much tidier and there's not much going on it's just recovering from that pruning but it's happy enough still
5:44
and here we are now where there's still not much happening but that's fine it's probably
5:49
going to explode with growth any day now
