Hello UBC. First off.. I live in Peoria Arizona. The 4 in1 apple tree consists of the following: M-111 rootstock Anna Apple Fuji Apple Gordon Apple Dorsett Golden Apple Container soil. (Not knowing the specific brand at this time.) I plan on utilizing the Palmette Verrier Espalier pattern if possible. Picture 1 is of the front view and picture 2 is of the side view. The wall in the background is south facing. I am going to container grow this as I will be moving in 2-3 years. What I am considering is transplanting into a much larger pot, digging a hole in the ground a little deeper than the pot and adding 2 inches of rock to assure drainage. Placing it in the ground with some sort of trellis behind it for training. I will be keeping the extracted dirt for later filling when it’s time to move. Once moved to new location these will be planted in the ground and never moved again. For now, I wish to get the training started to have fruit start in a couple years. My Question: Since it is currently not over 90 here, can I still prune? I just picked this up from a nursery. The 2 branches with the lowest chill hours are already producing fruit. I am not sure where to start my pruning. How far off the rootstock can I prune each leader to promote side branching of a new leader? Please advise.
