Farkesht technical guide
How to prune fruit trees: the right time and the right cut
The standard advice — cut out the dead wood, open the middle, do it in winter — is true and almost useless, because it says nothing about the two things that decide every cut: what the tree does in answer to a cut, and where this species carries its fruit.
- Buds that break below one heading cut
- 3buds
- Most live wood one season may take
- 25%
- Diameter past which a wound closes slowly
- 5cm
Updated September 1, 2026Farin Kesht Taban Co.
Chapter one
Every cut is a question, and the tree answers it
Pruning is not removal, it is redirection. The four facts below explain every rule further down this page, and a grower who holds them can work out the answer for a tree nobody wrote a rule about.
Apical dominance
The bud at the tip of a shoot keeps the buds behind it dormant. Remove the tip and those buds are released — which is the cause of everything that happens after a heading cut.
The answer is local
A tree responds at the cut, not across the canopy. Cutting the top will not strengthen the lower branches; it will only make the top denser.
Flower buds and leaf buds
A flower bud is fatter and rounder; a leaf bud is slim and pointed. Learn to tell them apart on the winter shoot — it is the only way to know what you are cutting off.
Root and shoot balance
A root system built for a large canopy sends the same energy into a smaller one after hard pruning. The result is watershoots, not fruit.
Two cuts, two completely different answers
This is the distinction the whole craft turns on and most growers have never been told it. A heading cut shortens a shoot and releases the buds behind it, so the canopy gets denser. A thinning cut takes the branch off at its origin and releases nothing, so light gets in and stays in.
1before2the cut3one season later
Heading cut (shortening a shoot)
You cut a shoot back to a bud. Apical dominance goes with the tip, and three or four buds behind the cut break vigorously.
Result: Strong, crowded regrowth right below the cut; the canopy closes in and shades itself further.
- Regrowth
- 3 shoots
- Canopy density
- increases
- Use for
- Building the frame of a young tree, stiffening a weak branch
Thinning cut (removing a whole branch)
You take the branch off where it started. No bud is left behind the cut to be released, so there is no growth response at all.
Result: Light reaches the depth of the canopy and stays there; size is controlled without provoking growth.
- Regrowth
- none
- Canopy density
- decreases
- Use for
- Opening the canopy, controlling size, removing a crossing branch
Chapter two
The best time to prune — and the time not to
There are two windows to work in and one to stay out of, and it is that third one most calendars leave off.
- Dormant pruningFrom full leaf fall until the buds swell. The frame is visible and the large cuts belong in this window.
- Summer pruningWatershoots and surplus shoots removed in growth. Light cuts, for light and to calm an over-vigorous tree.
- Dead and diseased woodWhenever you see it. This is the exception: a dead, broken or infected branch does not wait for a season.
- Avoid: early autumnThe worst possible window. The growth you provoke has no time to harden and the first cold burns it off.
The same two seasons, read as what they do
Winter pruning invigoratesmore growth
The roots are full of reserves and have less shoot to feed, so that energy goes into what is left. A weak tree is strengthened with winter pruning.
Summer pruning calmsless growth
The leaf you removed is the leaf that was going to build the root reserve. An over-vigorous tree is checked in summer, not in winter.
Chapter three
Exactly where does the cut go?
A tree does not heal a wound, it walls it off — and it builds that wall out of the branch collar. A few millimetres either way is the difference between a wound that closes and one that stays open for the life of the tree.
correct
Outside the collar
Cut just outside the collar, parallel to the bark ridge. The collar is left intact, builds the wall from there, and the wound closes from its edge inward.
wrong
Flush to the trunk
You cut the collar off too. The wound opens into trunk tissue, there is nothing left to build the wall from, and decay walks straight into the trunk.
wrong
A stub left behind
There is no living tissue in the stub to close the wound. It dries, it rots, and it becomes the way fungi get into the branch.
wrong
Torn bark
A heavy limb broke before the cut finished and took a strip of trunk bark down with it. A wound several times larger than the cut you meant to make.
Take a heavy limb off in three cuts
Any branch you cannot hold with one hand will break before the cut finishes and take the trunk bark with it. Three cuts solves that and costs thirty seconds.
- 1
Undercut
About thirty centimetres out from the trunk, cut up from below through a third of the diameter. That cut alone stops the tear from running.
- 2
Top cut
A little further out than the first, cut down until the limb drops. What is left is a short stub with no weight on it.
- 3
Final cut at the collar
Take the stub off outside the collar, parallel to the bark ridge. Small, controlled, and exactly the wound the tree can close.
One pruning round, in this order
Seven jobs in a set order on one tree. The order matters: until the dead wood and the watershoots are out, you cannot see the real frame to make decisions about it.
- 01
Walk round the tree first
Before the first cut, walk a full circle and look from two distances. Decide about the three main branches here, not with the secateurs already open.
You know which three branches are going
- 02
The three D’s: dead, diseased, damaged
Dead wood, cankered limbs, broken branches. These are not up for debate and they come out first so the rest of the tree can be seen.
A canopy with no dead wood in it
- 03
Suckers and watershoots
Suckers from the base and vertical watershoots off the scaffolds. Neither fruits and both take light and energy.
Trunk and scaffolds clean
- 04
Crossing and inward branches
Anything growing into the canopy or rubbing another branch. A rub wound is an open door for disease.
No two branches touching
- 05
Thin for light
Now open the canopy by thinning — not by heading. A simple test: midday sun should reach the floor of the canopy in patches.
Light reaching into the canopy
- 06
Head for form
Last, and least. Only where you want to build a new branch or stiffen a weak one. Cut to an outward-facing bud.
Next year’s frame is defined
- 07
Tools and debris
Disinfect secateurs and saw between trees — especially on stone fruit — and take the prunings out of the orchard rather than leaving them under the tree.
Tools disinfected, orchard clear
Chapter four
Training forms: what shape do you want?
All four exist to solve the same problem — getting light into the middle of a tree that would rather shade itself — and they differ in what they trade for it.
Open centre (vase)
The leader is removed and three or four scaffolds make a bowl. Light comes straight down into the middle.
Effective light80 %
- Working height
- 3 m
- Years to build
- 3 years
- Scaffolds
- 4
- Suits
- peach, nectarine, apricot, almond
free-standing
Central leader
One leader with tiers that shorten upward, so no tier shades the one beneath it.
Effective light70 %
- Working height
- 3.5 m
- Years to build
- 4 years
- Scaffolds
- 8
- Suits
- apple and pear on dwarfing stock
free-standing
Modified leader
A leader for the first years, then opened at the top. The practical compromise that survives a season nobody pruned.
Effective light65 %
- Working height
- 4.5 m
- Years to build
- 5 years
- Scaffolds
- 6
- Suits
- walnut, apple on vigorous stock
free-standing
Espalier
Everything on one plane, tied to wires. The most light on every leaf and the highest density — at the price of a trellis to build and maintain.
Effective light90 %
- Working height
- 2.5 m
- Years to build
- 4 years
- Scaffolds
- 6
- Suits
- high-density apple and pear
needs a trellis
Chapter five
Where does this species carry its fruit?
The most expensive thing a grower can not know. A peach fruits only on last year’s wood, so new wood has to be built every year; an apple fruits on spurs that live and bear for years. One blade, one month, opposite instructions.
The gold marks are where the fruit sits
On one-year wood
Fruit sets only on shoots that grew last season. Without new wood, the crop walks further from the centre of the tree every year.
Pruning rule: Prune hard every year so fresh one-year wood replaces the old.
- Bearing wood age
- 1 years
- Severity
- Species
- peach, nectarine
On spurs
Short shoots that live for years and flower every one of them. A spur you cut off does not come back.
Pruning rule: Prune lightly and by thinning; keep the spurs.
- Bearing wood age
- 2–8 years
- Severity
- Species
- apple, pear, cherry, almond
Mixed
Both on spurs and on last year’s wood. That is why this group takes the middle setting: some renewal, some preservation.
Pruning rule: Renew part of the old wood and leave the spurs alone.
- Bearing wood age
- 1–4 years
- Severity
- Species
- apricot, plum
On terminal buds
The fruit sits at the tips of last year’s shoots. Heading every tip is heading the whole crop off.
Pruning rule: The least pruning possible: thinning and dead wood only.
- Bearing wood age
- 1–2 years
- Severity
- Species
- walnut, fig, persimmon
Chapter six
After the saw goes down
Two things are necessary, two help, and two — which plenty of people do — damage the tree.
- Disinfect tools between treesEspecially on stone fruit and in any orchard with canker. A contaminated blade spreads disease as efficiently as wind.
- Take the prunings outAn infected branch left under the tree releases spores again the same spring. Collect it and take it out of the orchard.
- Feed after heavy pruningPruning removes stored reserves and provokes growth that has to be paid for. A balanced feed at the start of the growing season — not before it.
- Water through the next seasonThe vigorous flush after pruning raises water use. Drought stress on a freshly pruned tree shows up as tip dieback.
- Do not paint the woundThe research has said for decades that sealing a wound traps moisture behind it and slows the very compartmentalisation it was meant to help. A correct cut is the only dressing there is.
- Do not take more than a quarterRemoving more than about a quarter of the live wood in one year brings a flood of watershoots and puts the tree out of cropping for years. Recover a neglected tree over two or three seasons, not one winter.
The growth you provoked has to be paid for
Two product groups honestly bear on a pruning question, not five. Pruning removes reserves and builds new growth: a biostimulant to carry the flush and a balanced feed to support it.
Biostimulants
Biostimulants: for a tree that has to build leaf quickly after hard pruning, and to carry it through transplant and cold stress.
Organic fertilisers
Organic and balanced fertilisers: to supply the growth pruning provoked, built on a soil test rather than on a guess.
Farkesht does not sell secateurs or saws, and this page does not pretend the rest of the catalogue bears on a pruning question. Buy tools from a tool merchant; a sharp, clean blade matters more than the brand on it.
The soft flush a winter cut provokes is exactly what an aphid colony is built on:The aphid control dossier
Chapter seven
The Farkesht fruit tree pruning course
Pruning is the one orchard skill that is not learned by reading; it has to be watched. The course walks the same route with a camera at the tree: secateurs on the shoot, the decision before the cut, and the tree a season later.
Bearing orchards
A tree that has gone unpruned for years, or been pruned wrong. The course covers gradual recovery and getting cropping back without taking the tree out of production.
Young orchards
The first three years fix the shape of the tree for twenty. The course starts with the planting-year cut and works forward season by season.
Pruning crews and contractors
Speed, safety, tool hygiene and consistency across hectares — and how to hold a crew to one standard.
What the course covers
Every module ends in something you can do, not something you can define. If you finish a module unable to do the thing written beside it, that module has not done its job.
- 01
Reading the tree before the first cut
Telling flower buds from leaf buds, reading last season’s growth, and deciding about the frame before the secateurs come out.
Know what you are removing before you remove it
- 02
The two cuts and where they go
Heading and thinning on real trees, cutting at the collar, and the three-cut method for heavy limbs.
Make a clean cut the tree can close
- 03
Training a young tree, year by year
The planting-year cut, choosing scaffolds, setting branch angles and building the chosen form over three to five years.
Build your young tree’s form to a plan
- 04
Pruning a bearing tree by species
Balancing growth against cropping, crop load, and the different treatment each group needs from its bearing habit.
Choose the right severity for your species
- 05
Recovering an old, neglected tree
A two to three year plan for a tree unpruned for years, without taking it out of production in a single winter.
Write a multi-year recovery plan
- 06
Calendar and hygiene
Deciding between winter and summer, staying out of the autumn window, and tool hygiene in an infected orchard.
Write your orchard’s pruning calendar
- Sectioned curriculumEach course is divided into sections and lessons, so you can go straight to the part you need.
- Pick up where you left offProgress is saved per lesson and the player resumes from the point you stopped.
- Free preview lessonsSome lessons are open before purchase, so you can judge the depth and the tone first.
- Permanent accessA course you buy stays open in your account. There is no time limit on watching it.
- Phone or desktopThe player runs in the browser. Nothing to install.
- Ask an adviserStuck anywhere along the way, post the question in the forum and get an adviser’s answer.
Courses available now
This list is read straight from the Farkesht library — every course published appears here.
- Pistachio
مراقبت فصلی باغ پسته
آبیاری، تغذیه و زمان سمپاشی پسته از خواب زمستان تا برداشت. این درس برای باغداری است که پسته کاشته و میخواهد تقویم عملیات را یکبار ببیند.
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- 1 lessons
- 12:00
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- Almond
سرمازدگی و گلدهی بادام
انتخاب رقم دیرگل، تغذیه بور قبل از گل، و کارهایی که بعد از سرمای دیررس بهاره هنوز باغ را نجات میدهد.
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- Pomegranate
ترکیدگی میوه و کرم گلوگاه انار
آبیاری یکنواخت در سخت شدن پوست، پوشش توری، و زمان برداشت برای کم کردن ترکیدگی و خسارت گلوگاه.
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چطور دفترچه باغ را نگه دارید
ثبت آبیاری، تغذیه و سمپاشی طوری که فصل بعد قابل مقایسه باشد. این درس به گونهٔ خاصی وابسته نیست.
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Chapter eight
Plans and how to get in
There are two routes to these lessons: buy the single course you need, or take a plan that opens the whole library at once.
Buy one course
You buy a course and it stays open in your account permanently. Right when you know exactly which subject you need.
See courses and pricesFarkesht plan
Opens every video course, the technical knowledge base and the species files together — and any course published while the plan runs is included too.
Compare plans
Basic
Register your orchard and keep its record
150,000 Toman90 days
Includes
- Ask questions in the forum
- Orchard records and care sheets for your species
- Our pick
Professional
The expert knowledge base, and every species
350,000 Toman180 days
Includes
- Ask questions in the forum
- Orchard records and care sheets for your species
- Care sheets for every species
- Expert knowledge base
- Recorded video courses
Complete
Everything, for a year
600,000 Toman365 days
Includes
- Ask questions in the forum
- Priority placement for your questions
- Orchard records and care sheets for your species
- Care sheets for every species
- Expert knowledge base
- Recorded video courses
- Private consultation with an agronomist
Questions
Common questions about pruning
The eight asked most often in the forum.
When is the best time to prune fruit trees?
For the main cuts, during dormancy — from full leaf fall until the buds swell. But "best" depends on the aim: prune in winter to strengthen a tree, in summer to check an over-vigorous one. Dead and diseased wood is the exception and comes out whenever you see it. The one window to genuinely stay out of is early autumn.
How much can I take off?
About a quarter of the live wood in one year, and no more. Past that the tree answers with a flood of watershoots and drops out of cropping for years — the opposite of what you wanted. Recover a neglected tree over two or three winters, not one.
Why should I not prune in autumn?
Because a cut provokes growth, and growth that starts in early autumn has no time to harden before the first frost. The result is tip dieback and wounds that stay open until spring. In the wet season, fungal spores also land on a fresh wound. Dead or broken branches are the exception and come out whenever you find them.
How do I prune an old, neglected tree?
Over two or three years, not one winter. Year one, take only the dead, diseased and crossing wood. Year two, reduce the height and thin the canopy. Year three, tidy the form. Any attempt to do all of it at once is answered with a mass of watershoots and costs several years of crop.
Should I paint or seal a pruning wound?
No. The research has said for decades that sealing traps moisture behind the wound and slows the tree’s own compartmentalisation — the very thing it was meant to help. What actually works is a correct cut outside the collar, with a sharp blade, in the right season. The only exception is a local recommendation for a specific disease in a specific region.
Why is a peach pruned hard and an apple lightly?
Because a peach fruits only on wood that grew last year, so new wood has to be built every season or the crop walks away from the centre of the tree. An apple fruits on spurs that live for years and flower every spring; the same cut that renews a peach removes a decade of cropping wood from an apple. Chapter five shows all four groups.
Do I really have to disinfect between every tree?
In a healthy orchard, on winter-pruned pome fruit, not necessarily between every tree. But on stone fruit — and in any orchard where you have seen canker, fireblight or rot — yes, and it is the cheapest quarantine measure available. Seventy per cent alcohol or dilute bleach, a few seconds on the blade, is enough.
Can I prune from this page alone?
The principles, yes. But pruning is the one orchard skill reading does not finish, because the real decision is made in front of the tree and every tree differs from the one beside it. What a page cannot give you is watching ten decisions in a row on ten different branches. That is exactly what the video course is.
Learn to prune properly before next winter
Start with the video course — or request a consultation if you want an adviser to look at your own trees and write the pruning plan.