What's included
- Dormant structural pruning to set the scaffold limbs
- Summer thinning to size the fruit and get light to the interior
- Water sprout and root sucker removal
- Opening the center so air moves and fungus does not settle in
- Notes on anything we spot — canker, borers, fire blight
How it works
- 1Identify the variety and where it is in its cycle
- 2Take out dead, damaged, and crossing wood first
- 3Shape the leader and scaffolds to a working ladder height
- 4Thin fruiting wood to a spacing the tree can actually carry
- 5Walk you through the cuts so you can keep it up yourself
When to book it
February and March, before bud break — with a light summer pass in July
Dormant pruning drives next season’s growth and is when the structure is visible. Cutting a stone fruit in the wet of fall invites canker. Apples and pears are forgiving; cherries, plums, and apricots we deliberately schedule dry and late.
Pricing
$120 – $600
Number of trees, how many years since the last prune, and whether we are restoring a neglected tree or maintaining a shaped one. Every job gets a written, all-inclusive number before we start — no add-ons at the end, and the quote holds for 30 days.
Recent fruit tree pruning work
Questions we get about fruit tree pruning
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My tree has not been pruned in ten years. Can it be saved?
Almost always, but not in one visit. Taking a neglected tree back in a single season shocks it into throwing water sprouts. We plan it over two or three winters, removing a third of the excess each time.
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Will pruning cost me fruit this year?
You will get fewer apples and bigger, better ones. An unpruned tree sets far more fruit than it can size up, which is why the harvest ends up small, bland, and hard on the limbs.
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When is it too late to prune?
Once the buds swell and break, you have missed the dormant window. At that point we wait for the summer pass rather than cut into active growth.
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Do you spray?
No, we do not apply chemicals. We will tell you what we are seeing and what a dormant oil program would look like, so you can handle it or bring in someone licensed for it.