Most people think of taking care of the gardens and landscapes in the spring and summer, but can you do activities during the winter months to will improve your landscapes and gardens during the growing season like pruning?
Can you prune trees in the winter? Yes, in fact it is the preferred time of year to prune trees. It is best to wait until the hardest part of winter is over, but it’s ideal to do regular pruning and hard pruning during winter’s dormant stage or cycle of deciduous trees.
There are a couple of exceptions to this rule of thumb, but lets cover the benefits and optimal times for most trees.
Benefits of Pruning In Winter
- Can see the structure of the tree
- Less debris to remove since there aren’t any leaves which make clean up faster
- Gives a gardener things to do before all the spring cleanup of the gardens
- Don’t have to worry about damaging fragile plants under the trees
- You can do “hard pruning” where you take up to 30% of the tree top
You can see the structure of the tree much easier when all the leaves are off the tree. Cross branching is sometimes hard to see when the tree is in full leaf, but in the winter it is very easy to spot branches that are rubbing or that are heading in the direction.
You will want to remove any branches that not growing from the trunk outward. Look for branches that are growing straight up or branches that are growing back inward towards the trunk and remove them.
If the tree needs to be headed up so that it is easier to walk under for maintenance or for the public sidewalk, you can see how to balance the tree out by looking at the remaining limb once you remove the ones that are in the way.
You can readily see if a tree growing multiple leaders that are competing with each other. Now you will be able to pick the strongest one to keep.
Old dead branches are much easier to spot and remove. But sometimes newly dead branches are hard to spot when all the leaves are off. You might notice some dead branches once leaves are growing.
Clean up is much easier in the winter. With all the leaves off the tree it is much easier to clean up the debris from the pruning drop zone. You don’t have to rake up all the leaves from the grass when finished. Plus if you have to haul limbs away you can haul more without all the weight of the leaves.
For the gardener that is “chopping at the bit” to do something outside after being stuck in the house all winter, this is a great activity. While the rest of the garden / landscape is completely dormant you can prune away.
One great advantage to this time of the year is the lack of fragile under growth plants in the drop zone of the much bigger trees. Most people plant perennials and annuals in beds under the protection of the bigger trees. During the dormant winter months you don’t have to worry about stepping on the plants while pruning.
Optimal time for “hard pruning”. Hard pruning trees is when you are reducing the overall size or heading up limbs or just thinning the canopy to allow air and sunlight in and you are cutting out up to 30% of the tree. This is different than just trimming off a branch here or there.
Can You Prune Trees In Freezing Weather?
This is actually the best time of the year to prune trees. Many people want to prune in the fall or soon after the leaves fall but it is advisable to wait until you are at the end of the winter months.
If you prune too early in the winter months it might encourage the tree to try to start growing again if there is a warm snap in the weather. Any new growth at this point will be damaged by the upcoming cold air, so you will have to remove that later in the winter.
When Can You Cut Branches Off Trees?
The best time to do the majority of the pruning of trees is during the dormant winter months. But if you notice a dead, diseased, or damaged limb prune them as soon as you noticed them no matter what time of year it happens to be.
You can also trim a limb here are there any time of year if it is in the way or rubbing on a structure. You just want to save the hard pruning for the dormant months.
What Month Is Considered Late Winter?
For most that live north of the equator late winter will be January through late March. For most of the United States it would be late January, February on into March.
Instead of thinking of this as a specific calendar day or month, look at nature in your area and take notice of signs. You want to complete your pruning before the buds start to swell or before the sap starts running.
While it is better to wait until the average temperatures start climbing, you don’t want to wait too long. The reason to wait until the back side of winter is because if you prune during the first part of winter and if there is a warm weather period the plant might start growing again.
Pruning will cause a plant (either tree or shrub) to start growing, so if you prune in early December then get a “January Thaw” where the temperatures are much higher than normal the plant will try to start growing then when the second half of winter hits hard it will kill any new growth which can be very stressful to the plant.
What is “Dormant Pruning”
Simply stated dormant pruning is pruning when the tree is dormant. This happens when it drops it’s leaves and the sap retreats to the root system.
It is optimal to wait until later in the dormant season (winter) to do you pruning just in case there is a warm snap. A warm snap plus pruning can encourage the tree to try to grow again.
Can You Trim Fruit Trees In The Winter?
It is a great time to prune apple and pear fruit trees. This will give them a great structure for handling the upcoming crop.
Just keep in mind that fruit trees like peaches will fruit on last year’s growth so you don’t want to remove all of last year’s growth.
Can You Prune Maple Trees In Winter?
Maple, river birch, and walnut trees tend to ooze sap when they are pruned. Keep this in mind. If you prune right when the sap starts flowing in late winter the tree will tend to ooze more sap than if you did it more in the dead of winter when the tree is completely dormant.
You might also consider waiting until late spring or early summer once the major push of sap is over and the tree can heal over quickly during the growing season.
In this post I go into the best time to prune maple trees.
Related Questions
Does cutting off dead branches help a tree? Yes. By removing any dead branches at any time of the year you will remove possible places of invasion by insects and disease. Pruning dead branches as you notice them will help the tree heal over faster to seal up the area which will keep your tree healthy and happy.
Can I trim my trees in summer? Yes, but with limits. When I say “trim” I am talking about pruning a limb that might be hanging too low to walk under. Or maybe there is some storm damage that needs to be taken care of immediately. In general, it is better for trees to do hard pruning or just heavier pruning while the tree is dormant in the winter months.
