Pruning Orchard

February 27, 2025

If you grow fruit trees, the best time to prune them is now - in winter - or in very early spring before any new growth begins.

Pruning not only helps develop proper shape and form, but also encourages new growth, promotes high fruit yield, and maintains good tree health. My outdoor grounds crew recently pruned many of the apple trees around my farm. Soon after, they also tackled my orchard, where I grow more than 200 fruit trees - more apples, but also all kinds of pears, peaches, cherries, medlars, and quince. It makes me so happy to care for these trees. In return, they produce bounties of delicious fruits for me and my family.

Enjoy these photos.

: Fresh fruit is one of nature’s most delicious products. I have an orchard around my pool filled with more than 200 different fruit trees. This is what it looks like in summer.

: While I have many fruit trees around the farm, my orchard contains an organized selection of peach trees, apple trees, plum trees, cherry trees, pear, medlar, and quince trees. Many were bare-root cuttings when they arrived and now they’re beautiful mature specimens.

: These last few years have brought an abundance of fruit. I’ve had bounties of peaches to share with my family.

: I also grow plenty of pears – Bartlett, Columbia, D’Amalis, Ginnybrook, McLaughlin, Nova, Patten, Seckel, Stacyville, and Washington State.

: Asian pears are usually smaller than regular pears and have a sweeter flavor. Asian pears are also a bit more crisp.

: And of course, many more apples. These orchard apple trees include Baldwin, Black Oxford, Cortland, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Esopus Spitzenburg, Fuji, Golden Russet, Grimes Golden, Honeycrisp, Liberty, Redfield, Roxbury Russet, Windham Russet, and more.

: And this is the orchard now. The fruit trees are extremely healthy, in part because of all the care and maintenance that is done to keep them doing well. Here is a section of trees before they are pruned.

: This year, I asked my longtime arborists from SavATree to spend a day at my farm offering tips to my crew – a refresher course for using the best pruning methods. I’ve been using SavATree for many years and they’ve helped keep all my trees in excellent condition.

: The proper tools for this job include these trusted pruners. These Okatsune bypass pruners are very helpful in cutting water sprouts and small, thin branches.

: For slightly larger branches up to two-inches in diameter, my crew uses the STIHL bypass loppers.

: And a pruning saw like this one cuts on both the fore stroke and back stroke and is designed for cutting thicker branches.

: I prefer much of the work be done by hand. Cutting by hand gives my trees a more natural appearance and shape.

: Here, a long handled pole pruner is used to remove harder to reach water sprouts. Water sprouts are thin branches which normally grow straight up from lateral branches and do not bear fruit.

: Dead branches, or those without any signs of new growth, are also cut, so the energy is directed to the branches with fruiting buds.

: Pruning cuts should be made fairly flush to the branch from which it grew. The idea is to leave very slight stubs close to the collar. In time, this cut will heal over properly.

: Phurba cuts branches that are rubbing or crisscrossing each other, preventing any healthy new growth. Basically, the goal is to create a tree with well spaced lateral branches. Any branches which interfere with the tree’s shape or create a dense framework should be removed.

: And every so often he steps back to assess his work. A well pruned tree should have a balanced shape. I instruct the crew to cut about a third of the new growth.

: After the branches are cut, they are gathered, neatly piled, and then either saved for kindling or processed through a wood chipper to make mulch.

: Pasang removes crowded branches to help let in light and promote good air circulation. Pasang is also mindful of the leader. A leader is the dominant trunk of a tree. He defines which one it is and creates a good shape around it.