I have an apple tree(don't know what kind) that needs pruning desparately. I thought you pruned in the spring but someone told me that since it is now starting to bud that pruning is dangerous.

-- Paul (pbray@tds.net), April 30, 2001

Answers

I always prune during the fall and winter. I'd call your local tree nursery and ask.

-- Pat (mikulptrc@aol.com), April 30, 2001.

Wait until mid to late fall. Any fruit bearing tree should be pruned after its harvest... Same goes with flowering bushes... Prune those after the flowers have gone (usually summer).

Also, be careful when you prune that you don't prune off any grafts. There are some trees that produce several varieties on one tree. A couple are all-red apples. You can prune off an entire variety that way!

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), April 30, 2001.

The best time to prune live wood off an apple tree is when it is dormant, which would be late fall or winter. Dead wood can be removed at any time. I spent several days last summer pruning dead wood out of an orchard that had no pruning done in at least 50 years. If the pruning needs to be done badly, now is the best time!! Never take more than 30% of the live wood off an apple tree in a year.

-- Sheryl Adams (radams@sacoriver.net), April 30, 2001.

If you can't prune the tree now, but it's badly overgrown and you want a crop from it this year, then wait till it sets fruit, then pick and discard a lot (say 50-75%) of the juvenile fruit. This will cut the load back to something the tree can support, and most of the remaining fruit will grow, and moreover grow big. Meanwhile spend the time reading up on how to prune it next autumn/winter when it's dormant.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), May 02, 2001.

I do light pruning all year before any problems get big enough for the saw, pruning is as much art as science and well worth learning as much as you can. The pruning isn't dangerous to the tree unless you cut out too much, the loss as far as buds are concerned is a loss of fruit growth.

-- Thumper (slrldr@aol.com), May 04, 2001.

You CAN prune now, but it certainly is not optimum. Our system, going back to when Adam chomped the first apple, was to prune between Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays. Now that we have become so sickenly politically correct, and had to combine their birthdays into "President's Day" to accommodate another holiday without giving yet another Federal Holiday, the advice still stands. However, plan to prune somewhere in mid-February in zone 5. This is not critical, but do prune before you see any new buds or growth. If that's happened, wait 'til next year. If you can't wait, go ahead, but you will be stressing the trees more than I would like. GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), May 06, 2001.