I have some friends who own an orchard and one of the things they do to increase yield is to wedge a stick between the branch and the trunk to force the branch down some, like it would be pulled down by the weight of apples, if it had any.
What happens is when the branch is pulled down by the weight of the apples, the tree produces a substance (hormone I believe he said) that increases yield. When the tree is young, there is not much fruit to weigh the branch down so they simulate the bending of the branch with these sticks.
Then the yield increases and after that nature takes over and the weight of the apples does it.
Or maybe you could tie some weights to the branches, just being careful to not let the cord grow into the bark of the branches.
“What happens is when the branch is pulled down by the weight of the apples, the tree produces a substance (hormone I believe he said) that increases yield. When the tree is young, there is not much fruit to weigh the branch down so they simulate the bending of the branch with these sticks.”
I remember reading something about horizontal branches bearing the fruit. This explains how that works. I will be more attentive to my new apple, which came with 2 horizontal branches. I may weight them to keep them horizontal. As for my older trees, I can try to weight them, but I don’t know if they will give any. I may have to prune the vertical branches this fall.