PRUNING
PRUNING TIPS
Pruning helps to keep your trees and shrubs healthy, attractive, and resilient in Southern Alberta’s challenging climate. With our dry winds, chinooks, sometimes severe summer thunderstorms, and short growing season, thoughtful pruning helps trees and shrubs adapt to these conditions by improving airflow, reducing weight on branches, and encouraging strong, balanced growth, so they can establish strong structure, resist breakage, and grow vigorously year after year.
Below, you’ll find practical, region‑specific pruning advice—plus key differences between caring for deciduous and coniferous trees. Need Help With Pruning? Whether you’re shaping young trees, restoring older ones, or caring for shrubs, our team is here to help. We offer:
– Expert pruning advice, as well as referrals to local arbourists when needed.
– Selection of the right trees and shrubs for your needs, from our locally grown, prairie-hardy stock.
– On‑site consultations.
– Planting and care guidance.
Let us help your landscape thrive in our unique prairie‑foothills climate. We are here to answer your pruning questions – just get in touch – and we carry a selection of professional Berger pruning tools in our Garden Centre retail area.
General Pruning Principles
1. Prune During Dormancy
Late winter to early spring—typically February to late March—is ideal. Trees are dormant, wounds heal quickly, and you can clearly see the structure.
2. Remove the Three D’s
Start with anything that is: DEAD DAMAGED DISEASED. This prevents decay from spreading and improves overall plant health.
3. Avoid Topping
Topping weakens trees, encourages suckering, and creates long‑term structural issues. Instead, thin or selectively shorten branches to maintain natural form.
4. Use Clean, Sharp Tools
Sterilize between cuts to ensure diseases aren’t spread, especially when dealing with sections that obviously have a disease concern. Use 70% alcohol or 3% hydrogen peroxide solutions to sterilize equipment and dry before using.
5. Make Proper Cuts
Cut just outside the branch collar—never flush with the trunk and never leave long stubs.
🌳 Pruning Deciduous Trees
Best Time to Prune
– Late winter/early spring is ideal.
– Avoid pruning elms between April 1 and September 30 due to Alberta’s Dutch Elm Disease regulations.
Goals for Deciduous Trees
– Develop a strong central leader (unless naturally multi‑stemmed).
– Remove crossing or rubbing branches.
– Thin crowded canopies to improve airflow—especially important in our dry climate.
– Reduce long, heavy limbs that may break under wet spring snow.
Fruit Tree Specifics
– Prune annually to encourage fruiting wood.
– Remove inward‑growing branches to maintain an open “vase” shape.
– Avoid heavy pruning in a single year—spread major shaping over 2–3 seasons.
🌲 Pruning Coniferous Trees
Best Time to Prune
– Late winter to early spring for structural pruning.
– Late spring to early summer for shaping (especially pines during “candling”.
Goals for Coniferous Trees
– Most conifers have a dominant central leader that should not be cut.
– Pruning is usually minimal: remove only dead, damaged, or problem branches.