{"id":611973628230,"date":"2025-10-16T16:41:46","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T16:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ashridgetrees.co.uk\/blogs\/uncategorized\/pruning-crab-apple-tree\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T08:41:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T08:41:22","slug":"pruning-crab-apple-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ashridgetrees.co.uk\/blogs\/fruit\/pruning-crab-apple-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"Pruning A Crab apple Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>When to Prune Crab Apple Trees<\/h2><p>This video demonstrates a crab apple tree, and the same principles apply to a lot of other deciduous trees.<\/p><ul>\n<li>The <strong>ideal time<\/strong> to <strong>prune <\/strong>your young <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ashridgetrees.co.uk\/collections\/crab-apple-trees-malus\">crab apple trees<\/a> is <strong>early Spring<\/strong>, before the leaves emerge, when there are no frosts, and after winter storms have done their worst.<\/li>\n<li>Pruning at this time will consistently give the <strong>best results<\/strong> in terms of regrowth and flowering.<\/li>\n<\/ul><p>But do not worry if you have to prune at some other time of year! <br>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.<\/p><p>As always, remove DDD wood at any time: Dead, Damaged (which includes crossing\/rubbing), or Diseased.<\/p><p>You will need a ladder, secateurs and pruning saw, or bypass loppers.<\/p><h3>Formative Pruning of a Young Crab apple <\/h3><p>Gary Heilig\u2019s microphone needs wind protection, so turn on captions!<\/p><p>We\u2019ve reviewed all the crab apple pruning videos on YouTube for you, and despite the annoying wind noise, Gary\u2019s presentation is the most detailed, discussing the key principles with plenty of demonstration.<\/p><figure><div>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pruning A Young Crabapple\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/x-LbxXEjIlE\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure><h3>Restorative Pruning of a Mature, Overgrown Crab apple<\/h3>\n<p>We\u2019ve skipped the first 30 seconds of intro blurb for you.<br>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\u2019s 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).<\/p>\n<p>Remember the first rule of ladder safety: do not use ladders to prune trees unless you are already skilled, it\u2019s far too easy to hurt yourself, get a professional.<br>Chainsaws, ladders, trees, and slightly flawed pruning technique cause many accidents.<\/p>\n<figure><div>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How to Prune Crabapples\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GxVjXA-VqT4?start=33&amp;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n<section class=\"prodshow-shopify-block\" \n         id=\"prodshow-block-1\"\n         >\n\t\n\t<div class=\"prodshow-container\">\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<!-- Multiple Products\/Collection View -->\n\t\t\t<div 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of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":613787866222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"Pruning A Crab Apple Tree \u2013 When & How to Cut","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Complete guide to pruning crab apple trees including timing; formative pruning for young trees; restorative pruning for overgrown specimens.","footnotes":"","merlin_auto_generated":"","merlin_generated_at":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[84,18],"class_list":["post-611973628230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fruit","tag-pruning","tag-trees"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pruning A Crab Apple Tree \u2013 When &amp; How to Cut<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Complete guide to pruning crab apple trees including timing; formative 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