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David E. Ross · 15-01-2007, 06:45 PM posted to rec.gardens

wrote:
Hello,

I have heard several different ideas about the right time to prune or
trim trees. (By the way, is there a difference between pruning and
trimming?) "Prune only in winter" . . . "Prune only in summer" . . .
"Prune any time" . . . .

Anyway, I live in Wisconsin, so now in January it is winter here. I
want to thin out the branches in my silver maples so that I have a
little more sunlight on the yard below. When is the right time to do
this?

In the event that someone tells me to get rid of the trees altogether,
that is out of the question. We rent.

Thank you!

Ted Shoemaker

In general, deciduous trees (other than ornamental flowering trees) are
pruned just before the leaf buds swell and open. You want to delay
until then because pruning too early can promote growth with any
unseasonably warm day; that growth will then be killed with the next
frost. Also, you want to delay until you can tell what branches might
not have survived the winter; they will need to be removed. Where I
live, that means pruning right now. Where you live, wait.

For ornamental flowering trees that bloom in the spring or early summer,
you prune after they flower. That's because the flowers are often on
growth that was produced the previous growing season. If you prune
before flowering, you remove most of the flower buds. If you prune
after flowering, you promote new growth of next year's flower buds.

Some deciduous trees have a very showy display of flowers, but their
purpose is to grow fruit (apples, peaches, etc). These are pruned at
the same time as other deciduous trees, not with ornamental flowering
trees. Pruning does reduce the crop, but the fruit that does form will
generally be larger (without larger pits or more seeds). Often, you
will still have to thin the fruit to optimize the size of the remaining
fruit and to reduce the risk of branches breaking from the weight of the
crop.

When to prune evergreen subtropical and tropical trees is an entirely
different question.

Above all, prune when the shears are sharp.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/