When to Trim Your Tree

Some trees are more sensitive to being trimmed than others. Fruit trees especially are vulnerable to disease. Generally though, trees tolerate being trimmed far better when they are mostly dormant in the winter. There is less sap flowing then and an infection is less likely to spread. Another important thing to know is that you should never remove more than 25% of a tree at once. Really, 10% is a better goal to shoot for. Trees can go into shock if too much is removed at once and they will shoot out a lot of small shoots all over the tree. These shoots are not well constructed and they are very vulnerable to breakage.