My eating apple tree is falling over: what to do?

Question

It is about 7ft tall, quite old I think, very gnarled and with long arching branches. There is a lot of small fruit already, not really ready to pick - but the longer branches are touching the lawn and those fruits are going to spoil or get eaten by slugs, etc. Would anyone know whether I could use them in jam, or to make apple mint jelly, if I picked them now so that the branches would be relieved of their weight, then I can push the stem of the tree upright and fix it back into the ground more firmly? I hate to see this year's crop go to waste but if it means saving the tree for future years, that's OK.

Maybe I could use the small apples as if they were crab apples and follow my recipe for crab apple jelly (savoury)?

Anyone out there can help me please!

Answer 1

Like the last guy said,  use boards to prop the branches up off the ground.  After this year's crop is harvested you can use guy wires to hold the trunk straight but I wouldn't do much while the fruit is still on the tree

Answer 2

I would just use rope to distribute the weight onto other branches.

Answer 3

Get it STUMPED UP

Answer 4

Take some lumber and cut V notches in one end and prop up the sagging branches.

Answer 5

Your poor tree sounds like it hasn't been pruned properly in years and possibly a lot of rain has  softened the soil enough that the tree is leaning to the heaviest side. To temporally fix this you need to gather up some kind of support poles and try proping only the largest limbs. A second person with a step ladder will be helpful to lift the limb while the person on the ground guides the pole to the branch.

When late Winter comes, take a saw and begin pruning the tree, starting with the biggest limbs. Use a cut sealer to keep rot and disease out and promote a good healing. When Spring time rolls around you'll see new growth everywhere. Again, prune the tree so sunlight can find the center of the tree trunk.

Then take a discarded garden hose and some sturdy wire, feeding the wire through enough of the hose to encompas the tree trunk and make 3-4 tie off points using sturdy stakes driven into the ground about 7 feet away from the trunk. Pull the wire tight as heck in the opposite direction of the lean and tie off.

Answer 6

time to clean it up.  start with the lower branches -use a sharp pair of pruning shears.  whatever you cut on one side, you must balance on the other -kinda like a hair cut.  when it looks a bit more cleaned up and trimmed, start pruning the fruit.  there is too much.  next year, start pruning before the apples actually grow.  you can pinch off the flowers (each one becomes an apple).  with some practice, your tree will look great in a few years and produce larger, healthier fruit.