Pruning high-density orchards

Modern high-density orchard systems such as the tall spindle are based on simple pruning concepts that include minimal pruning in the early years and limb-renewal pruning at maturity.

Pruning is always a matter of compromise, since pruning has both positive and negative effects. The benefits of proper pruning include improved light penetration into the canopy, containment of tree size, renewal of bearing surface and improved spray penetration into the canopy.

Young trees

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/neworchard/english/apples/11trainyr2.html
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The Tall Spindle System: Apple Orchard Design For The Future

After years of experimentation, Terence Robinson believes he knows what a modern apple tree should look like.

It’s taller than people once thought it would be, 10 feet tall, but the trunk is really small and there are no scaffold branches to speak of. It sits along a three-wire trellis with other trees, spaced about three feet apart, in rows 11 feet apart, on an M.9 or similar dwarfing rootstock. It fruits early, bearing 15 to 20 apples in its second year.

Growers who plant trees like this have to learn a different training and pruning system, but if they plant the right varieties they should make money.