Care and feeding of apple tree?

I thought there was a thread on this, but I only dunked across Curtis grafting thread. 

I have this big apple tree at the house. Last year it had horrible tent worms and barely any apples. I cut the bottom third off of it this spring, with the intention of cutting it the rest of the way down next spring.well..

It blew up growth wise this year. No tent worms yet, but the apples seem fairly small.

They're edible, sweetish, just small. I don't even know the type.

Is there anything I can do to get them to grow bigger or better in the future? Or get the tree to a more manageable size without killing it?

They've been falling off the tree since late July, but it's still pretty full. Guess I need to get an apple picker, but since they don't turn red, how can I tell which apples are ready to pick?

Watching. My GF's new house has a badly neglected apple tree in the yard - dead branches, covered in vines, but still hanging on and producing fruit. Planning to clean it up this fall and assess once we get all the vines off.

Before anyone suggests it, its just a name.  I don't know E36 M3 about apple trees.

How has the rainfall been where you are?

No experience with apple trees, but with my other trees and plants I generally give the rain gauge a hairy eyeball if I'm getting good fruits that are on the small side.  Sounds like the sugar production and soil nutrients are on track, though. 

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Above average for the year, but the average has been climbing due over the past years. 

According to the old neighbor, in its prime, the apples made great pies, and I should wait till they're fist sized.

Might be old wives tale (my mom was an old wife) but our apple and crabapple trees worked on a three year cycle.  Not much, average, lots, back to not much.

As to the size and flavor, that's genetic, and pretty much set.  A good growing season might increase size a bit, but not a ton.

One thing I learned in my thread is that nearly all apples are not self-fertilizing.  The sperm and ovule produced by the angiosperm (flower) are not compatible, so just because you have a [for instance] Granny Smith tree does not mean you have granny smith apples.  If the bee or butterfly that pollinated that flower after visiting a crabapple tree, you have a different apple.  Apple trees are dioecious, meaning they have both male and female parts in the flower, but the way they perform meiosis produces two gametes that cannot combine.  So apple fruit is more like humans.  We can't constantly pop out clones of ourselves, we require someone else and the result is a combination of two sets of chromosomes.  Apples are the same way.  The fruit produced is a combination of the DNA of the tree and the DNA of another tree.

So, one year you get primarily great apples because you and your neighbor both have red delicious trees and the bees bounce back and forth.  The next year your neighbor cuts down his apple tree and your tree gets pollinated with the golden delicious sperm from down the street, or not at all, or from a crabapple in the woods behind the house.

Edit:  Just realized that I used "golden delicious sperm" in a sentence.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

One thing I learned in my thread

Thread Curtis is referring to: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/help-me-reproduce-with-a-fruit/183365/page1/

I'm no expert, but my grandad always pruned his tree pretty extensively. He claimed better taste and size and less bugs. 

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

I'm the only apple tree on the street. At least they aren't as finicky as my pawpaw trees that need completely separate genetics to reproduce. 

There's going to be much trimming again this fall. I may even attempt to shorten it a little bit since my pole saw goes to 11 feet. 

Leave it to Curtis to regale us with his graphic depiction of apple tree sex.  

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

So, one year you get primarily great apples because you and your neighbor both have red delicious trees and the bees bounce back and forth. 

I believe you are mistaken sir.  Because red delicious apples taste like crap.

rustybugkiller said:

I'm no expert, but my grandad always pruned his tree pretty extensively. He claimed better taste and size and less bugs. 

This is key.  Prune that tree waaaay back.  Eliminate all the suckers and let the tree focus its energy into fewer fruits, the remaining ones will grow much bigger.

apple orchards around here maintain the trees at about 10 ft, max

I have been trying to get Apples to grow for about 15 years now, with no luck. I have tried everything, and nothing works. I now believe that Apples are controlled by a secret organization run by weathly orchard owners who send out shadowy agents in the night to poison apple trees in people's yards.