A tree will bear more apples if the sun can reach the lower branches to ripen the fruit, says show host Kim Haworth. So it's to your benefit to open bunches of branches, encouraging them to grow in a way that lets sunshine through. Here's how: - Start when the tree is young, and work with the upper branches that are growing upwards in a bunch.
- Cut swallowtail notches from either end of a light piece of wood that's 10-12 inches -- or long enough to create a space between the branches and the tree trunk (figure A).
- Place the notched board between an upward-growing branch and the tree's trunk, in a way that it will hold the young branch down and away from the trunk.
- Leave the board on for about a year, and then remove. By then, the branch should be growing horizontally on its own.
| 
)
)
