That is the question I posed to pruning goddess Cass Turnbull, who founded PlantAmnesty in 1987 to prevent the rampant malpruning of trees and shrubs.
It all started when Mudraker reader Mike Jeffrey of Monroe wondered why PlantAmnesty’s “Pop Quiz” hinted that it is a bad idea to prune in April and October.
I wrote Cass and here’s what she said with hyperlinks added by me:
“The late, great Dr. Alex Shigo explained that when leaves are emerging (spring) and when leaves are falling (which are different times in the fall for different trees) are low-energy times for trees and they are more susceptible to fungal infections and other stresses.
ADVERTISEMENT0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcutsKeyboard ShortcutsShortcuts Open/Close/ or ?Play/PauseSPACEIncrease Volume↑Decrease Volume↓Seek Forward→Seek Backward←Captions On/OffcFullscreen/Exit FullscreenfMute/UnmutemDecrease Caption Size-Increase Caption Size+ or =Seek %0-9So pruning in times other than those are preferred, if you have a choice. But it should be noted that a ‘nice thing to do’ often turns into ‘an unbreakable rule of gardening’ in many people’s minds. It’s just not true! When I give classes I admonish my students to remember the following sentence: ‘Generally speaking, if you are pruning selectively and in moderation, any time is the right time to prune.’
Then come the exceptions, only one of which I will put here: Do not prune elms in leaf, as that can add to the possibility of the transfer of Dutch elm disease, which is fatal and highly contagious. Dutch elm disease has reached the West Coast recently.
I have observed that there is almost a cult about timing and pruning. I would like to add that, in general, people are overly concerned about when to prune and not concerned enough about how to prune. A hundred thousand more plants are damaged by bad pruning than by pruning at the ‘wrong time.’
You’ll find lots more info on timing in (shameless plug) “Cass Turnbull’s Guide to Pruning” — a great holiday gift!”
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