Seasonal
When to prune apple trees, and where to make the cuts
Prune free standing apple and pear trees in winter while they are dormant, between November and early March, removing no more than 10 to 20 per cent of the canopy. Trained cordons, espaliers and fans get a second, summer prune in July or August.
Winter pruning for open grown trees
Bush, standard and half standard apple trees are pruned once a year in the dormant season, which the Royal Horticultural Society puts at November to early March. With the leaves off, the framework is easy to read, and cuts are made before the tree starts back into growth.
The RHS guidance caps routine winter pruning at about 10 to 20 per cent of the canopy in any one year. Taking more provokes the tree into throwing up dense, vertical watershoots that crowd the centre and carry no fruit, which then need cutting out the following winter, and the cycle repeats.
The order of work matters more than the quantity:
- Dead, diseased and damaged wood comes out first, wherever it is.
- Branches that cross, rub or crowd the centre come next, aiming for an open goblet shape that lets light and air in.
- Last year's growth on the main branches is shortened by a quarter to a third, cutting just above a bud that faces outwards.
- Branches thicker than about 10 to 12cm are left alone in routine pruning, because cuts that size heal slowly and invite decay.
Spur bearers and tip bearers
Most apple varieties fruit on short, knobbly spurs along older wood. A smaller group, including Bramley and Discovery, carries part of its crop at the tips of last year's shoots. The RHS now takes a more relaxed view of this distinction than it once did, but one rule holds: giving a tip bearer an all over haircut removes the shoot ends that would have fruited, and the tree crops poorly that year.
On a tip bearer, thinning out whole shoots back to their point of origin keeps more fruiting tips than shortening every shoot by the same amount. Anyone unsure which kind of tree they have can watch where the fruit forms in late summer and prune accordingly the following winter.
Summer pruning for trained trees
Cordons, espaliers, fans and dwarf pyramids are restricted shapes, and they are kept that way by pruning in summer rather than winter. Cutting this year's growth back once it has firmed up slows the tree down and encourages fruit buds instead of more leafy shoots.
| Tree | When | What to cut |
|---|---|---|
| Trained pears | From late July | New shoots over 20cm to three leaves above the basal cluster |
| Trained apples | Mid to late August, about 10 days later in the north | New shoots over 20cm to three leaves above the basal cluster |
| Sideshoots from existing spurs | Same visit | Back to one leaf |
| Late regrowth | September or October | Shortened again |
The signal is in the wood rather than the date: summer pruning starts when the bottom third of the new shoots has turned stiff and woody. The job can run on into September in a late season without harm.
Plums and cherries are never pruned in winter
Stone fruit follows a different calendar because of silver leaf, a fungal disease whose spores are released mainly in damp autumn and winter weather and enter through fresh cuts. The RHS advice is to avoid pruning plums in winter altogether. Young plum trees are shaped in early spring, around April, and established ones are pruned in midsummer, when spores are scarce and wounds close quickly.
Trained plums, cherries and apricots against a wall or fence are pruned only in spring or summer and only in dry weather, which also limits bacterial canker. Where the whole orchard is pruned in one January visit, the plums are left for a separate visit in spring or summer.
Old and overgrown trees
A neglected tree is brought back over two or three winters rather than one. The RHS limit for renovation is up to 25 per cent of the canopy a year, working from late autumn to late winter, starting with the dead and crossing wood and then reducing height and spread a stage at a time. Heavy cutting in a single winter produces a forest of watershoots and very little fruit.
In England, trees in a conservation area need six weeks' notice to the council before work on any stem thicker than 75mm, and a tree under a preservation order needs consent. Fruit trees are not exempt simply because they are fruit trees, so the check is worth making before a saw comes out.
Who should do the pruning
A dwarf or bush apple that can be reached from the ground is ordinary winter work for a maintenance gardener, charged by time at £25 to £45 an hour. A large standard tree that needs ladders, ropes or a chainsaw is tree surgery, where a light prune of a small tree runs £150 to £350 and a crown reduction on a tree up to 7m costs £250 to £400. Working at height with a chainsaw is where certificates of competence matter, so ask which units the climber holds.
Common questions
Can an apple tree be pruned in summer?
Trained forms such as cordons and espaliers should be, in mid to late August for apples. Free standing trees are pruned in winter, though removing a broken branch or a few vertical watershoots in summer does no harm.
How much can be cut off an apple tree in one go?
Around 10 to 20 per cent of the canopy for routine winter pruning, and up to 25 per cent a year when renovating an old tree over two or three winters. Taking more triggers dense watershoots and a lighter crop.
When should pear trees be pruned?
The same as apples: free standing trees in winter while dormant, and trained pears in summer, starting from late July, which is a little earlier than trained apples.
Is it too late to prune an apple tree in March?
Early March is still within the dormant window in most years. Once buds have burst and blossom is forming, structural pruning is better left until the next winter.