Is it ever too late to prune?

Fear of "missing" the ideal pruning time

Winter is the best time to prune when trees are dormant. However I hear extreme fear in clients voices as spring unfolds that they can't prune their trees because it too late.

That's not true...the reason we prune in winter is to direct the trees stored nutrients toward the areas we want to grow when it begins to develop in the spring. However you can prune ANY time of year. When you prune in summer the main issue you will have is the new growth of the tree the following year will be very slow.

Late spring or summer pruning is not as ideal in that the tree was drawing "food" from the leaf structure it already put energy into growing and now you cut that "food" source off. The other issue I don't like is that insects and disease are active in the warmer weather and the tree is more acceptable with fresh wounds in summer.

 

So it is not ideal to prune in late spring and summer but it is not going to "KILL" your tree to do that pruning late if it is necessary.

 

See the link below for more info on seasonal pruning...
Pruning