“When is the best time to prune fruit trees?” Well, it’s contingent on your goals. If you have a young apple tree and you would like for it to grow fast and produce a top-quality crop. In that case, late winter is a good idea because winter pruning encourages growth. Pruning is nothing to play with. If you aren’t skilled in pruning trees, ask a tree specialist to do it for you.
Why Timing is Critical To Prune Fruit Trees
Why does winter pruning encourages growth when summer pruning doesn’t? Well, think about it this way: When you have plenty of gas in your car, you drive a long way. But if the tank is on E, you’re not going anywhere. Likewise, a fruit tree grows rapidly when it has plenty of energy in the springtime, and its growth dwindles as summer continues.
Fruit Tree Pruning in the Fall isn’t Smart
Fall: After a summer of sunshine your tree has made a tremendous amount of food for itself. It does this via photosynthesis, the method in which your tree turns the light of the sun into energy. As the weather gets colder, the tree readies itself for dormancy by transporting those sugars into the roots.
Fruit Tree Pruning in The Spring
Farmer cutting lemons of a tree full of ripe fruit
Spring: As spring gets nearer, the days grow longer, the weather gets warmer, and your tree begins to come out of dormancy. It has an incredible amount of energy in its roots, which it will use to spur on spring growth.
Fruit Tree Pruning in the Summer
Summer: Once spring growth reduces and the stored nutrients are all gone. Your tree uses the rest of the summer to remake its nutrient stockpile. Now wholly leafed out, it will once more produce energy via photosynthesis. Some of those nutrients it will use to fuel summer growth.
Fruit Tree Pruning in the Winter Increases Growth
Winter: In the fall your tree has put its extra nutrients in its roots. Now, the tree is going into dormancy and its leaves, with no nutrients and appearing brown, drop off. Fruit trees barely grow at all during the winter months. So, your tree will use just a little of its stored nutrients to stay alive during the wintertime.
