Time for Dormant Pruning

Yes, it's Winter now, the sprinkler season has ground to a halt, and my work consists of some landscape lighting (less digging than sprinklers... and can be done even when the ground is wet) lots of office filing catch-up, and planning and designing jobs for the next year.


It's also the time of year here for dormant pruning of roses, apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, grapes, pomegranates, tree peonies, crape myrtles, Japanese maples, wisteria and other deciduous trees, shrubs and vines. Dormant pruning should be done before February 15 or when plants begin to bud again, whichever comes sooner.

Felco has the reputation for making the best hand shears for dormant pruning. I recommend Common Ground in Palo Alto for Felco and another brand of pruners they like called ARS, as well as good general organic gardening advice.


Corona makes the best loppers available (IMHO) and some very good bypass pruners and pruning saws too. They can usually be found at OSH stores.

Corona loppers model AL-8150 (left) and Corona bypass pruners model BP- 6220 (right)

Here are some examples of what kind of pruning cuts to make on established apple trees and why:

A. Suckers or watersprouts are vigorous vegetative shoots which drain nutrients needed for fruit production. They often appear at the base of grafted trees, or in crotches and sites of previous pruning cuts.

B. Stubs or broken branches result from storms, heavy fruit loads, or improper pruning. Diseases and insects may enter the tree at these sites, so they should be headed back to healthy side branches or removed.

C. Downward-growing branches develop few fruit buds and eventually shade or rub more productive scaffold branches.

D. Rubbing branches create bark injury which also invite insects or disease. Head back or remove the less productive of the two.

E. Shaded interior branches develop less quality fruit and limit access for harvest.

F. Competing leaders result when suckers or branches near the top of the tree are allowed to grow taller than the uppermost bud of the trunk or central leader. Head these back or an unbalanced, structurally unsound tree will develop.

G. Narrow crotches occur when a branch develops more parallel than perpendicular to the trunk or limb from which it originates. As each grows, bark trapped between the two interferes with the growth of a strong joint.

H. Whorls occurs when several branches originate at the same point on the trunk or limb. Joints are weaker there, so select the best-located and remove the others.

If you need expert pruning of deciduous fruit trees, roses, Japanese maples, wisteria, etc. up to 15 feet tall, and don't want to tackle it yourself, give us a call and we'll get to it between rainstorms.