Is now an OK time to prune fruit trees?
I have looked on the Internet for some information and the dates don t match up for our area. A. Yes, now is a good time to prune fruit trees in your home landscape. Obviously, when the trees are dormant, a person can see the branch architecture of the individual trees and can prune to improve fruit quality. The whole idea is to improve air and sunlight penetration into the tree so all parts receive as much sun and air movement as possible. An important rule to remember in regard to fruit tree pruning is to prune no more than a third of the tree in any one season. Heavy pruning can result in a vigorous growth response from the trees – usually growth in areas you don t want: straight up and to the interior of the tree. Heavy pruning can also result in vigorous product of suckers – the shoots that come up from the rootstock of the tree. These suckers are totally different in characteristic from the top portion of the tree and cannot be allowed to flourish and take over the tree itself. F
