Pruning: formative and maintenance

In short

• Apples and pears are pruned in winter; cherries, plums, apricots and peaches in spring or summer, after growth starts or after picking, because of silver leaf, canker and gumming.
• First dead, diseased and broken, then crossing and inward-growing branches, and only then shortening.
• A hard cut drives strong growth; bending a branch drives fruiting. Bend a young tree more than you cut it.
• Never remove more than a quarter to a third of the canopy in one year.
• Cut a branch just outside the branch collar, with no stub and never flush with the trunk.
• A tripod ladder, never alone, and never a chainsaw on a ladder.

What's inside

Chapters

1. What a cut does to a tree
2. When to prune each species
3. Tools and the correct cut
4. Tree forms
5. Training a young tree: central leader
6. Pruning a cropping tree
7. Summer pruning and bending
8. Renovating an old tree
9. Species at a glance
10. Working on ladders
11. Pruning hygiene
12. Common mistakes
13. Printable checklist

Worksheets

• Pruning calendar
• Pruning plan per tree
• Tree sketch
• Pruning log
• Pruning time calculator
• Tools, equipment and ladders