There is a lot of gardening information on the internet these days. But unfortunately, not all of it is accurate or contains what we now know are best practices. When it comes to pruning fruit trees, you really want to do it right because your fruit tree production relies on proper technique. Each year I look for information that I can easily share with my customers in my daily job as a nursery manager. The following links on fruit tree pruning are some of my favorite resources. If you take the time to review each of the links, you will have enough information to feel confident with this twice a year chore.

Dave Wilson Nursery

I always encourage customers purchasing new fruit trees to check out Dave Wilson Nursery’s information about Backyard Orchard Culture. Dave Wilson has been a producer of bareroot trees for years. They supply nurseries all up and down the coast with fruit trees in amazing variety. Their Backyard Orchard Culture information will allow you to grow more trees in a smaller space with better fruit production. Now who doesn’t want that?

The University of California Agricultural and Natural Resources Page

Every gardener in California should have the UCANR page bookmarked. It is a wealth of well-researched information coming out of the UC segment. As new information about information becomes available, so do new publications. A quick search on pruning fruit trees leads to pages and pages of academic articles.

California Rare Fruit Growers

We are fortunate to live in a climate that allows up to grow a variety of fruit from those that need some cold weather to those that like warmer weather. The California Rare Fruit Growers organization celebrates the diversity of the fruit we can grow. I have never met a group of people that were more willing to share their “secrets” than this group. Head on over to the “Chapters” tab to find a group in your area. Many host pruning workshops (In our area it’s in January) where they will teach anyone who wants to learn how to prune and graft fruit trees.