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Pruning Fruit Trees: Now is a Good Time

Posted on Thursday, March 13, 2025 · Leave a Comment 

March, April and May are good months to prune your fruit trees. Traditionally farmers pruned their fruit trees in March. I think they did so because they had less other work they could do at this time of year – it was too early to plant, weed or harvest. You can prune fruit trees any time of year without harming the trees, but since the snow is gone now, pruning on a sunny afternoon will give you a good excuse to be outside. Let’s take a look at how to do it.

 

Tools for pruning

First, you need good sharp tools: hand pruners, a pair of loppers, and a pruning saw. A pole pruner is also helpful, and you may want to use a 4- or 5-foot stepladder. Don’t buy cheap tools: they will not do a good job for long. Buy the best you can afford, and take good care of them. Pruners and loppers can be sharpened with a simple and inexpensive diamond-studded sharpener, but most pruning saws are not suitable for sharpening.

 

Pruning fruit trees is not complicated. Your goal is to thin out branches that clutter up the tree and shade out other branches. Every leaf should get direct direct sun at some point during the day. My pruning mentor told me that a robin should be able to fly through a mature apple tree without getting hurt.

 

The biggest culprits, and the most commonly ignored, are the water sprouts that pop up vertically from bigger branches. They are, by far, the most numerous new branches each year; they shoot straight up and new ones are just the thickness of a pencil. But ignored for a few years, they gain mass and produce lots of leaves. Get rid of them.

 

Water sprouts are partly a tree’s response to a need for more food for the roots. Trees that haven’t been pruned in years have many of these. After a heavy pruning, a tree may produce lots of water sprouts to replace food-producing branches that have been removed.

 

I’d remove the two smaller branches here

It is important to know where to make your cuts. Each branch has a “collar” at its base, a swollen area where it attaches to the trunk or a bigger branch. This is where the tree heals best and it should not be removed. Cut just past the collar. But if you cut too far out the branch being removed, you will be leaving a stub that can take years to rot away. Once the stub has rotted and fallen off, it can properly heal – but in the meantime it is a place where infections can occur.

 

I like to begin work on a tree by walking around it a few times and really looking at it: are there dead branches? Are there big vertical branches that once were water sprouts? Do some branches head into the center of the tree? All of those culprits need to be removed.

 

I generally take out the dead branches first. I look for dry, flaking bark. Try bending the branch. A dead branch will crack and break instead of bending. For small branches you can scrape the bark with your thumbnail. If it shows green, it is alive; if not, it’s dead.

 

Then I look at the overall branching of the tree. It is quicker and easier to remove larger branches first, rather than making 50 small cuts on that same branch.

 

You should not remove more than 25% of the leaves on a tree in any given year. Leaves are the engine of the tree: they make the sugars that feed the roots and the beneficial microorganisms in the soil. They provide the energy that allows the tree to make flowers, fruit and seeds. I once pruned a mature apple with just three cuts. I removed three large problem branches, and each would have had hundreds of leaves, come spring. I had reached my 25% limit. The next year I was able to remove lots of smaller branches.

 

This apple tree is not cluttered with extra branches

Pruning every year, or at least checking each tree each year, is a good plan. It is much easier to remove a small branch than one that is 5-inches thick. If you do need to remove a big branch, take steps to prevent it from falling prematurely and tearing the bark of the trunk. Do this by first making an under-cut a couple of feet from the trunk, but just go part way through the branch. Then, just past that cut, cut from the top all the way through. Most of the weight of the branch will fall to the ground, allowing you to make a cut through the branch just past the branch collar without risk of tearing the bark.

 

Other branches that need to be removed? Any branch that heads back through the middle of the tree. If two branches form a tight “V”, remove one of them. Otherwise they will grow together and “include” bark that will rot, and can rot the wood. If two branches parallel each other, one shades the other, so remove the least desirable branch.

 

Learn to identify “fruit spurs” on fruit trees. These are 2- to 6-inch spurs (branches) with buds on their tips. Each bud should produce several flowers and eventually fruit. Vertical branches have few fruit spurs, branches at a 45-degree angle to the trunk should produce many, at least when the tree is old enough to bear fruit. Newly planted trees might wait 5 years before producing fruit, so be patient!

 

Pruning is good for trees. Don’t think of it like surgery that removes an arm or a leg. Think of pruning as creating art: a beautifully pruned tree is work of art, pleasing to the eye all year, especially in winter. Some fruit trees, like pears, will require lots of work every year if you want them to produce fruit low enough to reach from the ground. But all fruit trees will benefit from least a little trim every year. Learn to enjoy this work, and the benefits it offers.

 

Henry is writing just one gardening article pers month this winter. You may reach him at henry.homeyer@comcast.net. 

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March Is a Good Time for Pruning – and More!

Posted on Tuesday, March 15, 2022 · Leave a Comment 

Wood ash can be sprinkled right on the snow or soil

Traditionally farmers pruned their fruit trees and put wood ashes around their lilacs in March. And although this is a good time for both, you can do either earlier or later. I believe that because farmers couldn’t plant or work the soil in March, they did other tasks to fill up their days – such as pruning.

 

If you plan on pruning now, please be aware of the danger of compacting the soil. Compacted soil has few air spaces – and plants get their oxygen from their roots, not their leaves. Roots from trees can extend well beyond their dripline, and can be damaged by your footsteps if the soil is soggy.

 

If the soil is still thawing and is wet, it’s better to stay off it for now. If you have light, sandy soil that drains well, then you are fine. Clay soils are most at risk for compaction. Once you compact the soil, it is less able to drain away excess water, too. Just remember that the soil can freeze deeply – two feet or more, depending on snow cover – and a layer of frozen soil is like a layer of concrete. If you leave foot prints in the soil, don’t walk on it.

 

Don’t be afraid to prune, even if you have never done it before. Fruit trees grow vigorously when pruned, and even if you remove a branch and then wish you hadn’t, other branches will grow and fill in the space. You won’t kill your tree by pruning. But don’t remove too much: You can safely remove about 25% of your branches and leaves; your tree will still have plenty left to grow fruit and feed the roots.

 

Use a sharp pruning saw, not a rusty old saw you had when a Scout. You will rarely have to remove anything more than a 2- or 3-inch branch, so a folding ‘tri-cut” saw will be fine and can be purchased for around $25. Bow saws are not able to get in tight places, so are not recommended. A chain saw is rarely needed, and can easily remove too much wood too fast!

 

A branch was cut here last year, leaving the swollen branch collar to heal

What should you remove? First, remove any dead branches. How do you know if the branch is dead, since there are no leaves? The bark will be flakey and a different color from healthy branches. For smaller branches, scrape the bark with your thumbnail. If it does not show green, it is dead. Broken branches should be removed, too.

 

Ideally, sunshine can reach every leaf of the tree. Leaves that are shaded by others do little to feed the tree. So if you have branches layered closely, one above the other, the lower branch is being shaded. Either remove it, or remove the one above it.  

 

Apples are worth pruning and do not need pesticides to grow well. 012

Often branches grow back towards the middle of the tree. These will create problems as they get larger, often rubbing existing branches and shading out others. So follow them back to their point of origin to remove them. Remove any branches that are rubbing or touching. Decide which is the better branch, and leave it.

 

Where should you make your cuts when removing a branch? Look carefully and you will see the “branch collar”. You will want to leave the collar as this is where the cut will heal. It is a swollen area where the branch and the trunk or a larger branch are joined. Often the collar has wrinkles in it. Cut just past the swollen, wrinkled area and remove the offending branch where it is circular in cross section.

 

Many fruit trees send up water sprouts – vigorous new shoots. In their first year they grow straight up and are the thickness of pencils. They should be removed every year. If you cut a bigger branch, you might get several water sprouts surrounding the cut that year – but remove them all next year. Water sprouts are a tree’s attempt to increase food production by making more leaves. Some trees do it vigorously each year, others respond to heavy pruning this spring by growing many this summer. Water sprouts rarely produce fruit – ever.

 

Fruit spurs are short and wrinkled, with buds visible on their tips

When I prune fruit trees, I pay attention to the fruit spurs that actually produce the fruit. When choosing which of two branches to remove, I leave the one that will be producing the most fruit. Fruit spurs are two- to five-inch branches that have buds on them. Fruit spurs produce both leaves and flowers, and need to be at least two years old to on apples and pear trees to produce fruit, sometimes longer.

 

I often get complaints from readers about the fact that their young apple tree has not produced any fruit. Be patient, I say. Each variety of tree has its own schedule– dwarf or semi-dwarf trees produce fruit sooner than full sized trees. A newly planted tree can take two to six years before the first fruits grow. I once had a plum tree that took 20 years to flower and produce fruit, and only did so when I threatened to cut it down if it didn’t produce fruit the next year!

 

Lastly, know that pruning your tree well will increase the size and improve the flavor of the fruit. It takes a lot of energy to produce fruit, so a tree that only grows 100 apples is better able to feed the fruit and grow the sugars that make it tasty than a tree that grows 1,000 apples. And really, how many apples can you eat?

 

As to that other March chore, improving the pH of the soil around your lilacs? Two dry quarts of wood ashes or garden lime will sweeten the soil if spread around your lilac. Lilacs do not flower as well in acidic soil, which is what most New Englanders have. It won’t affect this year’s blossoming, but should by next year.

 

So get outside on a sunny day and get to work. I always find something to do, and pruning is one of my favorite March activities.

 

Henry is the author of 4 gardening books. He lives and gardens in Cornish Flat, NH. Reach him by e-mail at henry.homeyer@comcast.net.

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Pruning Fruit Trees

A well pruned apple tree in full bloom or loaded with fruit is a feast for the eyes. Now is a good time to work on your trees – though you can prune in any month without damaging your tree. Farmers of yesteryear pruned their fruit trees in March, probably because there was no planting and weeding to do. Most orchardists stop pruning when the flowers open in May because working in the tree then will knock off potential fruit.

Fruit spur

Before pruning a tree I walk around it a few times, looking at it carefully to determine its basic nature. What shape is it genetically programmed to be? Some trees want to grow lean and tall (particularly pears), others want to develop a thick, dense canopy, and a few seem to like an open, somewhat sparse canopy. Some send up many vertical water sprouts every year, others few. But you can sculpt your tree to be almost anything you want – within reason.

I do insist on a clear trunk up at least 3 or 4 feet from the ground, or even more. This allows me to get to the trunk of the tree to pick fruit, to prune or to mow beneath it. Ideally, low branches are cut off when a tree is small. But if not, start there this year.

Remove lower branches

Where you make your pruning cut is important for tree health. Don’t cut branches flush to the trunk or a bigger branch. Don’t cut into the swollen area at the base of a branch, an area called the “branch collar”. You can often see a distinct edge to the collar where the wrinkles in the bark in the branch collar stop and smooth bark of the branch begins. But don’t cut off branches too far from the trunk, either. That creates stubs that will die and slowly rot away – leaving an open wound where disease can enter.

Cutting a large branch requires 3 cuts to avoid tearing the bark of the trunk: first, go out the branch a foot or more, and make an undercut. Cut a third of the way through the branch from below. Then move your saw a little farther out the branch and cut down, from the top. Cut right through.

A heavy branch will probably start to drop when you are about half way through the second cut, and the bark will begin to rip. But the undercut will stop the rip, and allow the heavy branch to fall to the ground. Then you can make your third cut near the branch collar.

Remove lower branches

Remember this: it’s always better to take a few larger branches than 50 smaller ones. And it’s less work, too. Don’t nibble away at your tree like a deer. Be decisive. In any given year you can remove up to 20% to 25% of the (potential) leaves on a tree. Take all dead branches, too, they don’t count. If you rub a branch with your fingernail and you expose a green layer, the branch is alive.

Pruning saws have changed and improved over the years. The bow saw I used as a Boy Scout is outmoded. Tri-cut saws, even relatively small folding saws, are sharp and able to go through wood like termites on speed. Never use a dull or rusty saw. The same goes for your pruners and loppers. Bypass pruners (which work like scissors) are better than anvil-type pruners, which crush branches.

Your goal in pruning is to open up the tree, allowing sunshine to reach every leaf and to allow breezes to promote drying of leaves after a rain or heavy dew. Most fungal diseases thrive when leaves and fruit are constantly wet.

So what to remove? If 2 branches are touching, remove one. If one branch is directly over another, shading it, remove one or the other. Your choice. I look for fruit spurs when deciding which to remove. Fruit spurs are from an inch to 5 inches long and terminate in one or more fat buds. They will open up to multiple flowers and leaves.

I also remove the “dumb branches” – those that instead of reaching out and grabbing sunshine are headed back into the interior of the tree. Not sure why they do that, but they’ve got to go. Darwin would approve.

Not sure if you should remove a branch? Ask yourself what the branch will be like in 5 years, or 10. If it’s going to crash into another branch in a few years, take it out now. And after you’ve removed a big branch, never have second thoughts. In no time others will grow to fill the gap.

For me, pruning is not just about getting the most flowers or fruit from a tree, it’s about creating a beautiful form. In winter, especially, I enjoy looking at a well-pruned tree as sculpture. I prune professionally and love to restore old apple trees. And even though I’m 70 years old, I love to climb to the top of old apple trees, communing with Mother Nature and taking time to enjoy the beauty she has created. I hope I get to keep on climbing trees until the very end of my days.

Read my twice-weekly blog at https://dailyuv.com/gardeningguy. You may e-mail me at henry.homeyer@comcast.net or send mail to PO Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746.

• “Organic Gardening – Not Just in the Northeast”

  Henry’s latest Book, Organic Gardening (not just) in the Northeast: A Hands-On Month-by-Month Guide is now available for $21.00 INCLUDING postage. To Learn more about this book click here: Organic Gardening (not just) in the Northeast: A Hands-On Month-by-Month Guide is organized around the calendar year, starting in March and continuing through the year with timely advice. The book is packed with useful information you won’t find elsewhere: how to sharpen your pruners, use a screwdriver to test for compaction in your lawn, and build a welcoming cedar arbor as an entrance to the garden. Learn how to grow ladyslipper orchids or Himalayan blue poppies, prune apple trees, grow giant pumpkins, and even how to start a date palm from a grocery store date or build a small stone igloo to delight the grandchildren. Eccentric, eclectic, and entertaining, whether you are a beginner or a veteran, this book has something more for you. To see what other garden writers have said about it click here