The Gardener's LogPruning Small Trees: What to Cut in Autumn and Winter, and What to Leave
Pruning a small tree is one of those jobs where knowing when matters as much as knowing how. Cut at the wrong time and you can invite disease or lose a year of flowers and fruit. Cut in the right place and the tree heals quickly and keeps a good shape. This guide is for small garden trees: apples, pears, ornamental trees and similar. Anything large, tall or near buildings and power lines is a job for a qualified arborist.
First, check the legal position
Before you cut anything bigger than a pencil, find out whether the tree is protected.
- Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs): If a tree has a TPO, you generally need written consent from your local council before cutting, topping or removing it. Penalties for breaching a TPO can be serious.
- Conservation areas: In England, if a tree in a conservation area is not covered by a TPO, you generally have to give the council six weeks' written notice before cutting it down or doing major pruning. There are exemptions for very small trees, so check the current rules.
- Planning conditions on a new development may also protect trees.
Your local council's planning or tree officer can tell you quickly, and many councils have an online TPO map.
Birds and wildlife
As with hedges, active bird nests are protected by law. Look carefully before cutting, and see our post on hedge trimming and nesting. Check for bat roosts too. Bats and their roosts are strictly protected, and if you find or suspect a roost in a tree you are working on, stop and contact the Bat Conservation Trust helpline or Natural England.
Which trees to prune now
Apples and pears. The traditional time to prune is winter while they are dormant, from about November to February. Winter pruning encourages strong growth. You can start in late autumn once the leaves have fallen. Aim to open up the centre so air and light can get in, remove dead, diseased and crossing branches, and shorten overly long growth. Avoid removing more than about a quarter of the canopy in a year if you can help it, as heavy pruning produces a flush of vigorous, unfruitful shoots.
Many ornamental deciduous trees. Trees such as hawthorn, crab apple (Malus) and rowan can be pruned in the dormant season, to remove dead or crossing wood. Remember that if you want blossom and berries, heavy pruning removes them.
Newly planted trees. Minimal pruning, just removing broken or crossing branches.
Which trees to leave alone
Plums, cherries and other stone fruits (Prunus). These are prone to silver leaf disease and bacterial canker, which enter through wounds. The usual advice is to prune them in spring or summer, when they are growing and wounds heal rapidly, and not in autumn or winter.
Trees that bleed sap, such as birch, maple, walnut and vines. They can lose sap heavily if cut in late winter or spring. It is not usually fatal, but it looks alarming. Late summer to early autumn is often recommended, and if you want to be careful, take only light cuts in the dormant period.
Evergreens such as holly and conifers. Different rules apply, and many conifers will not regrow from bare wood.
If you are not sure what kind of tree you have, identify it before cutting.
Making a proper cut
- The three Ds first: remove anything that is dead, diseased or damaged. Dead wood is brittle, dry, and often has no buds.
- Then crossing or rubbing branches: remove one of the pair so they stop wounding each other.
- Then thin out congested growth to let light and air in, particularly in the centre of fruit trees.
Where to cut. Cut just outside the branch collar, the slightly swollen ring where the branch meets the trunk or a larger limb. Do not cut flush with the trunk, and do not leave a long stub. The collar contains tissue that helps the wound seal. For a small branch to a bud, cut just above a bud at a slight angle sloping away from it.
Heavy branches: the three-cut method. To avoid the branch tearing bark off the trunk as it falls:
- Make a shallow undercut about 30 cm from the trunk.
- Make a second cut from above, a little further out, to remove the weight of the branch.
- Make the final cut just outside the branch collar to remove the stub.
Wound paint. It is no longer generally recommended. Clean cuts in the right place heal well without it.
Tools
Use sharp, clean secateurs for stems up to about 2 cm, loppers up to about 4 cm and a pruning saw for larger. Clean blades between trees with a disinfectant wipe, to avoid carrying diseases. See our guide to preparing tools for winter for sharpening.
Working safely
- Do not climb a tree with a chainsaw. Chainsaw work in trees requires specific training and equipment.
- Be extremely careful around overhead cables. Never work near them, and call the network operator if branches touch them.
- Never use a ladder on soft ground without help, and avoid reaching.
- Wear a hard hat, eye protection, gloves and boots when branches may fall.
- If a limb is too big to handle from the ground safely, use a professional with insurance and ask for their qualifications.
Disposal
Small branches can be chipped or shredded for mulch, while thicker logs stored in a log pile provide wildlife habitat and firewood once seasoned. Diseased material is better removed from the site, so check your council's green waste rules. Do not compost diseased material.
A calm, patient approach
Many people prune too heavily. A good rule is: stand back and look, take out the obvious problems first, then stop and look again. You can always remove more next winter, but you cannot put a branch back.
Summary
- Check for TPOs, conservation areas and wildlife before you start.
- Prune apples and pears in winter, stone fruits in spring or summer.
- Cut just outside the branch collar and use the three-cut method for heavy limbs.
- Leave big jobs, anything near wires and anything needing chainsaws to professionals.
If you have removed a tree or a worn-out hedge, you might replace it with a native hedge, covered in planting bare-root hedging.