Help please - three 60yr old apple trees in new house

[Smudge2201]

We have been in our house just about two months, and a big job has been upheavaling the garden. It was my Nan and grandad’s house for 60yrs and then rented out for a few years. Shrubs that should be maybe 3ft tall and 15! But I’m not too precious about those so have been happily giving them a hard prune.

At the very end of the garden though there are three apples threes which are at least 60yrs old, probably more like 80. One cooker and two eaters. However they bear hardly any fruit and what they do have falls down already rotten. They are very overgrown and also shaded by self set smaller trees and a Christmas tree next door planted out which is now about 50ft tall.

I feel like I have a responsibility to get them in shape, but can’t afford to spend hundreds of pounds on a tree surgeon. Is this something I could do myself (we have lots of tools)? Sorry the photos aren’t the best they are screenshots from a video took.

Wait until winter.
I can see they are very over-grown in the crown, so tackle them first. Then look to reduce some of the older limbs, but take it easy. A project like this should be tackled over several years, the health of the tree over fruit is more important for now.

This would seem to be a good start, though shorter than yours the principles would be the same?

Ooh, what fun! I love tackling the restoration of an overgrown apple tree.

Looking the images, there are a lot of water shoots - the tall, upright whips - which is what happens when a tree is pruned too hard in one session. This is one reason why, as a pp said, you need to do the job over several years. I can also see holly, which will need removing.

Start slowly by giving the trees a good hard staring at. Remove the whips and stare again. For what to remove, you want to follow the rule of The Three Ds, which is dead, damaged and diseased. Then look at crossing branches, though these may need to be removed in the next winter. The first winter, remove dead and damaged wood, then stand back and look again. Remove no more than a third of the growth in one year.

In the second and subsequent winters, remove any water shoots that grow and concentrate on the shape of the tree. You're aiming for an open structure that could be compared to an upside down open umbrella, so there is light, air circulation and space in the middle.

The man who taught me fruit tree pruning emphasised standing back often to consider the structure of the branches. 'It's both an art and a science' he said.

The job looks terrifying to begin with, but take it slowly and steadily and within a few years you will hopefully bring them back.

This is good advice: