How to Prune Fruit Trees Properly: A Comprehensive Guide

For many people, planting fruit trees is the easy part. Then, the time comes for fertilizing fruit trees, using dormant oil, and, most intimidating of all, pruning! 

If you want to know how to prune fruit trees like a pro, this comprehensive guide is for you! From dwarf stone fruit trees to old, overgrown apple trees, you can learn how to prune with confidence.

I’m sharing the four different pruning methods that you need to know to master pruning to see tree-mendous results!

A Cut Above The Rest

When the time comes to prune grapevines, prune tomato plants, fruit trees, or any other plants, don’t settle for anything less than quality garden tools. Good tools will give you the edge you need! 

For clean pruning cuts that promote healthier plants, you will want to get professional bypass pruning shears with a good blade sharpener, and a pole saw for pruning older, taller trees.

The Ideal Shaped Tree

An ideally shaped fruit tree is achieved through maintenance, not by just letting the tree grow on its own. If you just let a fruit tree grow, it will produce an overabundance of leaves and branches and usually become too tall to manage from the ground.

A well-shaped tree should host a lot of fruit, but still have openings for good airflow (to cut down on pests and diseases) and sunlight to penetrate through (to help ripen fruit). It also needs to be low enough to the ground that it can be easily maintained, harvested, and sprayed.

Here are the four different pruning methods you need to know to give trees the right shape, the right size, and open it up:

• Heading Cuts

• Releadering

• Thinning Cuts 

• Jump Cuts

How to Prune Fruit Trees

Consider your end goal for the tree before you begin pruning. What is your ideal shape and size for that tree? Once you’ve decided that, you can determine which parts to prune and which to preserve to work towards your goal.

Then choose the appropriate pruning method (from the four I am sharing) for each cut that you need to make. All four pruning methods will likely not be used on the same tree at the same time, but these methods all apply to fruit trees. 

Heading Cuts

A heading cut shortens the tree by taking off the top portion. Heading cuts force the tree to stop growing upwards and instead promote outward lateral growth. 

As I explained in the guide to fruit tree spacing, trees come in 3 main growth habits: dwarf, semi-dwarf, and conventional rootstock. Semi-dwarf trees can grow 10-15 feet tall, and conventional rootstock trees can reach upwards of 35 feet tall. Most people don’t want a tree that is 15 feet tall or more because it becomes impossible to maintain from the ground. 

Good candidates for heading cuts are semi-dwarf or conventional rootstock trees that are tall and spindly, or young saplings that are essentially one long straight stick without any upper lateral growth. (Dwarf trees are already capped at about 8-10 feet of mature height and so may not need heading cuts.)

• Heading Cut on Main Growth Leader - Choose a spot on the main growth leader about a foot above the nearest branching spot and cut at a 45° angle. Refer to the diagram or video above for a visual demonstration. Pro-Tip: A heading cut may force releadering if there is an established branch just below the heading cut.

• Heading Cut on Lateral Branch - You can also use heading cuts on lateral branches to shorten them. Prune the branch to the desired length at a 45° angle, just behind a bud.

Releadering

Releadering is when the tree is forced to choose a new central leader due to pruning. It should be used to promote lateral growth and to advocate for a specific new branch to become the leader.

You might choose releadering cuts to control the size, height, or shape that the tree grows into, or to select the strongest or most desirable main growth leader. Releadering cuts are also used when grafting fruit trees.

To perform a releadering cut, do a heading cut on the main growth leader directly above an established branch that is the desired new central leader.

Thinning Cuts

As the name implies, thinning cuts thin out foliage. Having more branches might seem like a good thing because most people think that more branches = more fruit. In reality, more branches lead to overcrowding, reduced fruit production, and increased pests and diseases. 

The goal of thinning cuts is to promote wider distances between the branches. When selecting branches to thin off, keep in mind that a well-shaped fruit tree can host a lot of fruit, but has open spaces to allow good airflow and sunlight penetration.

To perform a thinning cut, first select and save the most robust, thick branches that are growing in an outward pattern at regular intervals. Save and do NOT prune these off. 

Then, prune off smaller, more spindly branches, watersprouts, and damaged or diseased branches. Cut them off using an angled cut as shown in the diagram above and the video.

Jump Cuts

A jump cut is a very important type of cut if your tree has large branches that need maintenance. A jump cut is actually three separate cuts; the first two cuts relieve the weight off the branch before the final cut is made. 

Make jump cuts any time you are pruning off branches over 1 inch in diameter. This will prevent the branch from weighing down as it is cut, which can pull the bark off the tree and cause damage that promotes pests and diseases. 

1. First Cut - Use a hand saw or pole saw to make the first cut 4-12 inches away from the trunk. Starting underneath, cut upwards ¼ to ⅓ of the way through the branch. 

2. Second Cut - Place the saw 2 to 3 inches further out the branch (away from the trunk) and make the second cut all the way through the branch.

3. Third Cut - Cut off the remaining stump of the branch close to the trunk, just outside the branch collar, as shown in the diagram. 

Pruning Rootstock Suckers

Don’t forget to prune off rootstock suckers! These are little shoots at the base of the tree that grow from the rootstock (anywhere below the graft union), and they are different from your desired fruit variety. 

Apple trees are notorious for these! Rootstock suckers dramatically reduce yields because they steal energy from growth and fruit production. 

Come in once or twice a year and prune them all off. Not doing so is a huge mistake that I fell into with the apple trees at my house, and the trees really suffered. As soon as I made a regular effort to prune off the bottom growth, I saw immediate benefits to the overall top growth!

Best Time to Prune Fruit Trees 

The best time to prune fruit trees is when the trees are dormant! This can occur anytime from December to April, depending on your climate.