It’s coming up to the end of March. The weather has been cooler than normal, here on the South Island for the last few weeks. The last bit of winter and into the first few weeks of Spring (as long as the temperature remain cool) is the best time to tackle the task of pruning your apple trees.

The state of the tree is an important consideration to factor in when deciding to prune or not. By doing it this time of the season, the tree will have a chance to trigger a strong growth response and fill it, becoming healthier and producing more fruit. However, only move forward with the pruning if the tree is in a healthy state.

This means that the tree has space for the branches to be balances, especially in the crown. The fruit should be in good condition.

A tree that is so dense, with a significant amount of dead wood, making it look incredibly thick and unbalanced is not an ideal candidate for an early pruning. Likely results will not be as expected. It’s still possible to prune it, but the strategy is different. In this case, the purpose is to restore its balance and health. Once this is achieved, then proper pruning should be much more effective.

When it comes to how often an apple tree should be pruned, the answer is dependant on how much fruit production you’re seeking. By pruning a mature, healthy tree once a year, there will be an abundance of fruit produced.

Certainly, going to a routine of once every two years, is also a very viable option.

From that point on, an annual assessment of the tree, crown and balance, as well as the level of fruit production would determine if pruning can be extended another season or not.

By having a schedule and the discipline to follow it, maintaining a healthy apple tree is not a difficult task.



A word of advice – never take on the task of pruning your own trees if you don’t have the knowledge or experience to do it properly. The damage done by lack of skill can take 2 to 3 years, or even more, to reverse. Always hire a professional arborist for jobs like these. It’s well worth the investment.