Pruning small trees in September ?

Mel
by Mel

I have several smaller trees that are in need of pruning. I’ve always heard to wait until fall fir shrubs. But is it harmful to trees, such as dogwood, etc to do a shape prune now?

  9 answers
  • Zard Pocleeb Zard Pocleeb on Sep 09, 2018

    I prune trees on my property all year (except winter) and I’ve never experienced any problems.

  • Kathy Gunter Law Kathy Gunter Law on Sep 09, 2018

    General rule is late winter when dormant for non blooming. Summer bloomers in winter. Spring bloomers immediately after they bloom. So dogwoods should have been already been pruned.

  • Shannon Shannon on Sep 10, 2018

    I did mine and quite radically too. When the leaves have come off a bush of tree, you can get a better idea of where to prune and the cleaning up is a lot less without all the leaves still attached. I did all of mine this past week.

  • Bijous Bijous on Sep 10, 2018

    Hi. The main concern about pruning now is that if you have some freaky warm weather, the tree may try to sprout new growth. So if you want to do it now, be on the look out for new and trim that. Otherwise it will experience sever damage in the winter months. Happy Gardening!

  • Chaz Chaz on Sep 10, 2018

    I would take all lower branches off so you can see the trunk of the tree and any suckers growing around the bottom of tree. Cut close to trunk at a angle so the water runs off and then in the future they will sprout little branches at the cut and then you can just clipped them with your hands off if it happens? It is always good to know what type of tree it is.But this should not Harm it. I have done it to a lot of mine and no problems.

  • Mel Mel on Sep 10, 2018

    Thanks all!!!!

  • Candi Candi on Sep 10, 2018

    You could at least clip all the lower branches and tidy up the tree. That will not hurt it......AND it will look much nicer!

  • Diane Coverdale Diane Coverdale on Sep 11, 2018

    For your dogwood, sure. Like all of the other responders, normally after it blooms. Fall is good since it's normally a lot cooler to work with.

  • Jason white Jason white on Jul 28, 2020

    Y es pruning is good for tree health in any season... https://uberant.com/article/820341-advantages-of-tree-and-shrub-pruning/