Summer is an excellent time for restorative pruning. Summer pruning tasks may include removing dead, damaged or diseased branches.
Many people think of pruning as a winter task, but there are a number of great reasons to prune your trees and shrubs in summer. Here are six reasons to consider summer pruning.
Help slow growth
Summer is a good time to prune if you would like to slow the growth of a tree or branch. Pruning reduces the the total leaf surface, which reduces the amount of food produced and sent to the roots.
Restore shape and structure
Summer is an excellent time for restorative pruning. You can correct problems that have resulted from over-pruning or poor pruning. You can also clean up damage from winter and spring storms.
Proper pruning will begin to restore most plants’ natural shape.You need to carefully evaluate the tree’s form and likely regrowth patterns. This will help prevent new problems from developing.
You should remove dead, damaged and diseased tree limbs. You should also remove any limb that has the potential to cause damage or stress to your tree. This reduces the chance that a weakened branch will fall on your home during a storm.
Assess health and vigor
In summer, it is easier to evaluate the plant’s canopy for health and vigor. You can see exactly what you are removing, such as defective limbs. You can shorten long lengths of new growth to reduce the risk of storm damage next fall or winter.
Reduce diseases and pests
When performed properly, pruning can reduce diseases in plants. Selectively thinning branches will increase circulation and light penetration throughout the crown. This will help keep the shrub or tree healthy. It is easier to do this when the plants are in leaf, so you can see exactly how much to take out.
Summer pruning can help to control pests. Inspect your trees’ limbs all around to look for pests like aphids and mites. You should pick off and dispose of pest-infested fruit. Removing branches with pest damage helps to ensure the tree’s overall health and long life. It also helps trees to produce delicious fruit that’s free of pests. Do not compost branches that show signs of diseases or pests.
Remove aggressive shoots and redirect branches
Summer is a perfect time to remove aggressive shoots on trees and shrubs with suckering tendencies. You can redirect or reduce the size of branches that are overreaching into neighboring plants or structures. Some plants will need a combination of thinning and heading.
Encourage fruit trees
Many fruit trees produce a crop on short flowering spurs along the bottom half of branches. These don’t need pruning, but cutting back vigorous growth made in spring will encourage more productive growth to develop.
Pruning to improve light penetration can support young fruit tree development. Summer pruning helps trees develop robust and durable branches, which will help to support healthy fruit in the future.
What not to do
You should not do aggressive pruning in summer. Major structural pruning should wait until the plant is dormant in winter.
Improper pruning willstress the plant. You might cut off valuable buds.In most cases, you should avoid topping, shearing or hedging trees and shrubs. This creates rapid regrowth that can destroy the natural form of the plant.
Consider mature size
Knowing how big your trees and shrubs are capable of growing in five to 20 years is the key for a healthy landscape. If you have the right plant in the right place, pruning is mainly focused on removing dead or broken limbs along with crossing or rubbing branches. Minor aesthetic pruning is used to shape the plant.
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We are currently scheduling our staff for summer tree and shrub pruning.If you would like a free estimate, contact our office.
Watch In Harmony expert pruning staff
This video explains how to prune a laceleaf Japanese maple in summer. Many of the principles apply to other trees and shrubs as well. This is our most popular video, with over 74,000 views on YouTube.
Learn more
Our YouTube Pruning Tips playlistcontains the above video along with videos from Plant Amnesty on basic pruning and from City Fruit on fruit tree pruning. Here are a few more resources.
FAQs
Cutting back plants in summer has a host of benefits, not least in helping to restrict the size of your plants and stopping them outgrowing their allotted space. It can also promote future flowering and fruiting. More on pruning plants: Best tools for pruning.
Why do they cut trees in the summer? ›
Summer tree pruning plays an important role in the removal of dead, damaged, and diseased tree limbs. Any limb that has the potential to cause damage or stress to your tree should be removed.
What is the purpose of pruning? ›
Removing the dead, diseased, and injured parts of a tree or shrub maximizes their vigor and aesthetic qualities. Removing vulnerable parts of the plant will also minimize the potential for pest damage. Plus, pruning encourages good growth patterns and improves air circulation.
What happens if you prune bushes in the summer? ›
Best Time for Shrub Pruning
Being judicious in later summer also limits the probability of winter injury on new growth that might not be adequately hardened off. That said however, the worst that usually happens when pruning too late is that flowers are lost for a growing season.
Does summer pruning restrict growth? ›
In summer, leaves engage in photosynthesis and produce carbohydrates. The tree translocates those carbohydrates throughout to grow roots, shoots, leaves, and fruit. By removing leaves during summer pruning you remove a resource point and thus reduce energy for overall tree growth or regrowth.
What are the 5 D's of pruning? ›
Begin by removing the 5 D's: dead, dying, damaged, disfigured and diseased wood. You can do this at any time of year. Cut these twigs and branches back to healthy wood — or to the ground. After that, look for branches or twigs that cross and rub on one another.
What are three factors to consider when pruning? ›
On the other hand, improper and/or pruning at the wrong time of year may result in poor plant development and reduction in flowering, and may increase susceptibility to insects, diseases, or winter damage. It is important to learn and understand the three T's of proper pruning: tools, timing, and technique.
What is the first rule in pruning? ›
The first rule of pruning is do no cutting without a reason. Improper pruning can cause damage that will last the life- time of the tree — or even shorten the lifespan of the tree.
What month is best for pruning? ›
February is the best time to prune your trees – never prune in April, May or June.
- Trimming off dying or diseased branches protects your trees from further harm.
- You can prune to promote new tree growth or suppress unwanted growth.
- Pruning can keep branches from becoming too large and hazardous.
From early in the morning until late at night, summer sunshine provides the energy trees need to make new wood, twigs, and leaves. Many tree seeds germinate in summer. Sunlight and moisture send the seed signals to begin to sprout. Water softens the seed shell and expands the food inside.
Trees continue growing new leaves during the summer months. However, they tend to grow fewer leaves than they did in the spring because most of their energy goes into growing taller instead of producing more foliage.
What are the objectives of pruning? ›
Pruning objectives usually include one or more of the following: reduce risk of damage to people or property. manage tree health and direction of growth. provide clearance for vehicles or roadways.
Does pruning encourage growth? ›
Perhaps the most common reason for pruning is to maintain balance within the border, preventing the bullies from taking over by controlling their growth rate and size. Geoff Hamilton called this 'umpiring'. Pruning can also encourage desired growth.
Why is the pruning process important? ›
The neurons in the brain meet and connect at the synapses. Synaptic pruning is the process where the brain eliminates extra neurons and synapses. This can help increase the efficiency of the brain's neural transmissions.
What months to prune in summer? ›
When to prune. Summer prune when the bottom third of the new shoots is stiff and woody. Generally, this will be from late-July for pears and mid- to late August for apples and about ten days later in the north.
What happens if you don't prune? ›
Lack of pruning in a tree can lead to structural defects. These structural defects can result in significant portions of a tree failing. If a tree that sustains a limb failure then needs to be removed, it technically has died from not being pruned.
Is it OK to prune in July? ›
Plants that bloom on old wood (last year's growth) are pruned after flowering so as not to remove flower buds with a winter pruning. Hedges also require additional shaping in early summer, and fruits need a little training.
What trees to prune in summer? ›
Fruit trees: Fruit production and quality can be improved with proper thinning of blooms and fruits as they set. Evergreen trees: You can do some light trimming, such as shearing tips or making small thinning cuts less than 1” in diameter, in the summer, but save the major pruning for the dormant season.
