When to Prune Crab Apple Trees

This video demonstrates a crab apple tree, and the same principles apply to a lot of other deciduous trees.

• The ideal time to prune your young crab apple trees is early Spring, before the leaves emerge, when there are no frosts, and after winter storms have done their worst.
• Pruning at this time will consistently give the best results in terms of regrowth and flowering.

But do not worry if you have to prune at some other time of year!
Crab apples, like most garden trees, are extremely tough, and nothing bad will happen if you prune during the growing season and cut off flowers or decorative fruit, or during winter and expose the tree to a little frost damage: you can prune that off later.

As always, remove DDD wood at any time: Dead, Damaged (which includes crossing/rubbing), or Diseased.

You will need a ladder, secateurs and pruning saw, or bypass loppers.

Formative Pruning of a Young Crab apple

Gary Heilig’s microphone needs wind protection, so turn on captions!

We’ve reviewed all the crab apple pruning videos on YouTube for you, and despite the annoying wind noise, Gary’s presentation is the most detailed, discussing the key principles with plenty of demonstration.

Restorative Pruning of a Mature, Overgrown Crab apple

We’ve skipped the first 30 seconds of intro blurb for you.
This video is still aimed at beginners, but tackles a mature tree that is slightly overgrown: the same principles apply to a very overgrown tree, with the proviso that it’s best not to remove more than 25-30% of the tree per year. Removing too much in one year can cause very vigorous regrowth (especially upright stems called watershoots).

Remember the first rule of ladder safety: do not use ladders to prune trees unless you are already skilled, it’s far too easy to hurt yourself, get a professional.
Chainsaws, ladders, trees, and slightly flawed pruning technique cause many accidents.