Keep your fruit trees productive and looking good with our easy pruning guide.
What to do
Free-standing fruit trees, such as those grown in an orchard should be pruned when they're dormant, in winter. Trained trees, such as espaliers, cordons, pyramids and fans should be pruned in late August or early September.
Remove the dead, dying and diseased branches, then look for branches that are crossing over each other and remove them.
Cut out branches that are growing into the centre of the tree, as this prevents sunlight from reaching it.
If the tree has reached the desired height then cut back the leaders (the new growth at the tip of each branch) by about two-thirds.
A few fruit trees are tip-bearers, fruiting mainly at the ends of longer sideshoots. If this is true of your tree, simply cut out some older sideshoots in winter to make way for younger ones.
