![The Pruning Mistake Millions Make Every Year [And How To Fix It]](https://www.allforgardening.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/1774646287_maxresdefault.jpg "The Pruning Mistake Millions Make Every Year [And How To Fix It]")
In this video, I explain why so many gardeners are afraid to prune their trees, and why not pruning trees is a HUGE mistake! Pruning fruit trees and landscaping is mandatory for health, flowering and productivity, and I give you the pruning tips you need for confidence so you can have healthier, more productive fruit trees with smaller size.
This fruit tree pruning video shows the full pruning procedure:
• How To Prune Fruit Trees: https://youtu.be/UKiDItwCR_o?si=dXilGUlGGqrZkxke
• I use the following products* for pruning and growing fruit trees:
Japanese Bypass Pruning Shears: https://amzlink.to/az08Dzhs8BJ1x
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 The #1 Pruning Mistake We Make
0:59 Problem #1: Trees Are Too Large
4:35 Problem #2: Poor Productivity
8:01 Problem #3: Dead Wood
10:24 When And How To Prune Trees
12:43 Pruning Stimulates More Vigor
14:19 Fig Cutting Announcement
15:52 Adventures With Dale
If you have any questions about how to prune a fruit tree or ornamental landscaping, how to grow fruit trees or the things I grow in my raised bed vegetable garden and edible landscaping food forest, are looking for more gardening tips and tricks and garden hacks, have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, or want to share DIY and “how to” garden tips and gardening hacks of your own, please leave a comment!
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ABOUT MY GARDEN
Location: Southeastern NC, Brunswick County (Wilmington area)
Zone 8B, 34.1°N Latitude
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© The Millennial Gardener
#gardening #garden #gardeningtips #fruittrees #pruning
28 Comments
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0:00 The #1 Pruning Mistake We Make
0:59 Problem #1: Trees Are Too Large
4:35 Problem #2: Poor Productivity
8:01 Problem #3: Dead Wood
10:24 When And How To Prune Trees
12:43 Pruning Stimulates More Vigor
14:19 Fig Cutting Announcement
15:52 Adventures With Dale
Hey brother, I don't remember your name but can you tell me how long your owari satsuma orange tree that is to the left of your avocado tree took to put fruit on?
I ordered one last spring and transplanted it into a bigger pot, brought it in right before winter and set it back outside a few weeks ago and I just noticed that I have ONE bloom! There's two more little ones right beside it and I'm going to put it in the ground in a week or two. I'm in SE Oklahoma btw, the guy with the Fantastic variety avocado tree that's in the ground, can't wait for that guy to put blooms on…😅.
Just wondering how long it'll take my satsuma orange to make and hold fruit. Any advice will be appreciated…😉
I wish I owned a home with a yard for trees. Especially in a place where I can grow avocados and citrus, I'm from Florida and I miss the tropical fruits and veggies. But as a renter in Virginia I am limited to what I can have pots. My roommate and I are going to have an impressive veggie garden in pots, and we got 2 blueberries and a gooseberry bush to put in big pots. I wonder if I should try figs or something else in pots? I know about keeping and pruning bonsai and bigger pots are easier. Any suggestions for fruit trees or bushes I can grow in pots?
Questions. I bought a house recently that has some old mature fruit trees on it. Probably have never been pruned. Looks like two persimmon trees and and apple tree. They are around 25-30ft tall. Any advice on how to prune that? Or do I remove the trees and start over? Thanks
🎉🎉DIBBS ON A SMITH CUTTING 🎉
PLEASE
Peach trees need pruning, because they are so abundantly productive that branches will break from fruit load. I thinned the peachlets on my tree within reach of a short ladder, but got some broken branches higher up that were hard to reach that were overburdened.
I have an Asian persimmon in ground for its second season. It’s about 4.5 ft tall but only has a few short scaffold branches. The trunk is under an inch diameter. Should I prune it this season or give it another year before doing so.
Feb-U-airy
You need to actually prune trees on video. Describing is not good enough. I know you do at times, but all of this just does not show me what to do.
Am I the only one who saw you grab that spider at 9:24 ? Scared the poop out of me
Feel better Anthony! Great pruning video. Dale loves cottage cheese like our dog does, it's so funny to watch their facial expressions! 🤗
Have to be honest, I stopped caring about botany after I took the class in high school. No, I do not hate nature..I in fact love nature. Being in and among nature 10/10, but the closest I get to it 99% of the time is mowing my lawn. I don't mess with the trees in my yard. My daughter planted a silver oak. I do not touch it.
Leaving a comment and letting the video play because you're not an AI video and you are in fact promoting a positive message. Taking care of and maintaining nature is important especially if you want to get the most out of it. 1 million and growing subs well deserved. Thanks for showing up in my recommended.
Be well please. Good luck with that lemon harvest.
Feel Better!
What about over-pruning problem? Some trees really don't like to be pruned. I have a cherry tree that has been pruned by my old gardener friend every single year and each year it produced less and less fruits. Last year it barely produced 10 cherries and the tree is 8 years old.
Thanks for the vid.
Is it too late to prune fruit trees now?? I’m live in Raleigh
I didn’t know Meyer lemons had such large thorns. At first I was wondering if the root stock was sending up growth. I was wrong right?
I have a fig tree from my mom and she got hers from her mom . I cut mine back like have one year in January. Then it made figs but I didn’t get very many because the frost got them that gal . From then on if we don’t have frost once the figs come out of the wood like last year I got a load off my tree. And the new growth I got a huge harvest and they ripened before the frost hit . I’m In Goldsboro NC not far from you . This year I only cut the branches that hung down in our way walking by and the ones hit my building. Other than that it’s growing buds and leaves as I’m writing this . I only grow mine for fig preserves so I need all I can get .
I have blooms on my fruit than ever before!
You "only" have 8000 square feet for gardening… Sigh. I live in Philadelphia and have a total of about 800 square feet of growing space. Since I'm in Zone 7A, I've had citrus in pots. I grew Meyer Lemon, Key Lime, and Calamondins. The lemon and calamondins fruited profusely. I brought them in and they lost just about all of their leaves in protest. So, I'm hoping that they'll come back when I put them out in a few weeks. Any advice about fruit trees in large pots?
If a tree fruits on the previous year's wood, how would it be possible to ever prune such a tree? Wouldn't it need to be allowed to grow every year without being pruned in order to set new fruit?
9:32 That spider just gained so much EXP
+5 Stealth
+10 Evasiveness
+25 Recovery
Hope you feel better better really soon. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!!
Yo Garden Bro, I like your tree content the most. The rest is ok.
I pruned the crap out of my plum, apple, figs and Meyer Lemon this year. So hopefully get some fruit.
These trees are a year or three old, except for the figs which range from 2 to 5 years old.
Are your 3 apple trees graphed or did they get that shape just by pruning alone? Also, which of your other trees were grafted?
Great channel 👍
I took this advice of prune hard. I killed my wife’s peach tree. So I pruned it back even harder with my chainsaw. To the ground.
Best peach in bloom I’ve ever seen especially for the size. Wow, I definitely learned so much this episode. I prune regularly but spacing examples you have give me more ideas. You have been the first inspirational gardener I started learning from because we both moved from Midwest to SC/ NC
Thank you again for inspiring us!😊