Last month, I briefly introduced summer pruning and why it’s important for maintaining healthy, productive stone fruit trees. The best time for summer pruning isn't a specific date on the calendar. It's any time after the tree has produced the growth you want to remove and before it settles into winter dormancy. Remember: summer pruning devigorates and winter invigorates a tree. Pruning is a vast subject, and I recommend a deeper dive if the topic interests you. Anyone in my family can attest to my lifelong love of pruning, which started with one of my favorite pastimes: climbing trees.
I grew up on a small orchard, and my sister and I spent hours up in the trees, our favorite being a cherry tree. Its lowest branches began only a few feet off the ground, making it easy to pull ourselves up into the canopy. We loved this tree because the two of us could easily move from branch to branch and reach fruit from nearly every direction. We weren’t poked or prodded by branches, and there was enough shade to keep us cool without totally blocking out the sun.
Years later, after learning more about pruning, I realized that our “perfect” cherry tree didn’t naturally grow that way. My great-grandfather had spent years shaping it. By removing vigorous upright growth and encouraging strong outward-facing branches, he created the vase shape or open-centered tree I mentioned last month.
When shaping your own trees, start by walking around them and viewing the canopy from underneath, or even stepping inside if the tree is large enough. Could a bird fly through the tree without getting caught in a thicket of branches? The goal is to allow light and airflow throughout the canopy while leaving enough healthy leaves to ripen the fruit and protect branches from sunburn. Each leaf is like a tiny solar panel collecting sunlight and turning it into energy for fruit ripening. Just make sure you don’t remove too much growth, or you’ll limit the tree's ability to ripen fruit.
As you start removing branches, use sharp, clean pruning shears to make precise cuts. To control the tree’s shape and size, cut back to an outward-facing bud or branch. The growing tip at the end of each branch produces hormones that keep many buds below it dormant, allowing the branch to grow longer while side buds remain inactive. By pruning back to an outward-facing bud, you break this dominance and encourage the tree to grow fuller and bushier.
This phenomenon is called apical dominance. If you dig deeper into the term, you’ll learn quite a bit about tree growth and where to make pruning cuts. It’s the same concept as pinching the top of a basil plant to encourage bushier, fuller growth.
It took me years of reading books, watching videos, and practicing to really understand pruning. Believe me, I’ve definitely made my share of bad cuts and created odd growing shapes. With one specific apple tree, I didn’t understand that the fruit was developing directly from the branches (not spurs), so I accidentally pruned all of next year's growth, resulting in zero fruit that season.
I now take photos before and after pruning. It helps me see whether the branch responded to my cut as I intended. It’s a helpful way to see patterns and build confidence in your skills. Pruning is a bit like a game of chess. You need to think several moves ahead to make sure you’re shaping the tree you’ll want five or ten years from now.
Happy Gardening!