Pruning checklist for shrubs and fruit trees
The single rule behind this list: prune at the wrong time of year and you don't harm the plant, you just cut off the flowers or fruit it was about to produce.
17 items
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
The items
- Tools cleaned and sharpened before startingA blunt cut heals slower and is more likely to let disease in.
- Right tool for the diameter
- Secateurs for anything pencil-thick or thinner
- Loppers for thicker stems out of secateurs' reach
- Pruning saw for branches loppers can't get through
- Apples and pears pruned while dormantLate autumn to late winter, once the leaves are down.
- Plums, cherries and other stone fruit pruned in summer onlyPruning them dormant raises the risk of silver leaf disease.
- Summer-fruiting raspberries cut down after fruitingThis year's fruited canes come out to make room for next year's.
- Roses pruned in late winterJust as the buds start to swell but before new growth gets going.
- Spring-flowering shrubs pruned right after floweringPruning them in winter cuts off the flower buds they've already set.
- Summer-flowering shrubs cut back hard in early springThey flower on new growth, so a hard cut now means more flowers later.
- Hedges trimmed outside the bird nesting seasonRoughly March to August — check for active nests before cutting regardless.
- Dead, diseased or damaged wood removedThis can be done any time of year, unlike everything else on this list.
- Ladder or steps checked stable before working at height
- Gloves worn for anything thornyRoses and blackberries win that argument every time.
- Prunings composted, shredded or taken to green waste
- Cuts left unsealed, in most casesWound paint is rarely necessary and can trap moisture against the cut instead.
Makes your own editable copy. No account needed.
Questions people ask
- When should fruit trees be pruned?
- Apples and pears while dormant, between late autumn and late winter. Plums, cherries and other stone fruit should only be pruned in summer, when the risk of silver leaf disease is lower.
- How do I know when to prune a flowering shrub?
- If it flowers before midsummer, prune it straight after flowering. If it flowers after midsummer, prune it in late winter or early spring instead — cutting at the wrong end loses the display.
- Can I trim hedges any time of year?
- Avoid the bird nesting season, roughly March to August. Outside that window, cut a hedge whenever it needs it rather than saving it all for one big session.