I have 1 year apple and cherry seedlings. Do I prune the top branches so they divide and produce more branches. They are just growing straight as a single branch.
Prune fruit seedlings?
Don't top them out until they have a trunk 3-4 ft, plus above that 4-6 buds pointing the way you want the branches to go plus 2 stout buds above that to become temporary leaders. If the buds are spaced a foot apart, that is 8-9 feet And that is about as short as you can go with a standard tree, and it will take a lot of pruning to keep it manageable.
It is normal and healthy for a seedling to form a straight "whip". It will eventually branch on its own, usually on the previous years wood. How tall they get before they branch depends how tall the mature tree is, and what it's natural shape is. Standard apples are fairly large, and cherries even larger.
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