Pruning Fruit Trees

About the Season

Bare-root season is here, offering savings on fruit trees and shade trees. Plant onion sets now for an early-summer harvest, and choose from a wide selection of blueberry plants—give them a rich, acid bed prepared with plenty of peat moss.

After pruning, spray fruit trees with dormant oil from the bottom up, including the undersides of limbs and the ground around the tree, to prevent early-spring insect infestations.

Fruit Tree Pruning Class

Join our FREE Fruit Tree Pruning Class this Sunday, January 29, from 10 AM to 3 PM at the Mendocino County Museum, 400 E Commercial St, Willits. Look for the signs or call 459-9009 for more information.

Pruning Fruit Trees

The main purpose of pruning is to create a tree that produces high-quality fruit at a safe, accessible height. For young trees (1–4 years old), pruning establishes a strong framework of branches capable of supporting fruit. This framework can take many forms, including the traditional open-vase, central-leader, or spindle-bush systems. The open-vase is the easiest and most effective for most fruit trees.

• Branches do not grow upward with the tree—they remain the same distance from the ground as they age.
• Fruit trees need 6–8 hours of sunlight daily for proper fruiting. Pruning allows sunlight to penetrate throughout the tree, ensuring all flowers, fruit spurs, and fruit receive adequate energy.
• Moderate pruning maintains a balance between fruiting wood and vegetative growth, promoting regular annual crops and preventing biennial bearing (heavy one year, light the next).
• Proper pruning distributes fruit evenly, improves air circulation, and reduces disease risk.

The two basic pruning cuts are:

• Heading cut: Removes part of a branch to encourage new growth.
• Thinning cut: Removes a branch entirely back to its point of origin, improving structure and airflow.

Height control is best achieved with summer pruning, while winter pruning can cause excessive regrowth, especially at the top of the tree. Large, neglected trees may require 2–3 years of careful pruning to reduce height and improve fruit quality.

Always prune to:

• Remove dead, diseased, or broken branches.
• Eliminate unwanted growth like water sprouts, suckers, and crossing or rubbing branches.
• Improve tree structure by removing weak or narrow branch attachments.
• Preserve fruiting wood by learning where fruit is produced on your trees.

Proper pruning results in a strong, healthy tree that yields abundant fruit for years. To learn more, attend a pruning class, read books, or observe the effects of your pruning over time.