Fruit tree pruning

Perennial, fall harvest

Pruning

In the first year, you need to make sure that the tree is developing a central leader. This means one dominant central axis branch.
In the second year, you should remove narrow angled branches (narrow angled branches mean branches that are less than 90 degree angles from the main axis). By this year you should have about 4 or 5 good placed branches which will become your scaffold branches
Year three you should remove suckers and water sprouts as well as bad branches (branches with narrow angles, crisscrossing branches etc)
Year 4 onward just do typical pruning to keep the tree the size you like, maintenance pruning etc.
Fruit thinning may also be necessary. If your apple tree seems to be producing an abundance of apples one year and then none the next fruit thinning may be required. In order to fruit thinly you can knock flowers off in the spring to reduce the amount of fruit that way or you can remove the fruit once it has started to develop. The general rule of thumb is one apple always a hands width away from the next apple. This is only necessary for apple apples, not crab apples.