Reasons to Prune:

• To control a plant's size or form, and enhance its beauty and character (aesthetics).
• To promote a healthy plant by removing damage (mechanical, disease, etc.) and increasing the air and light circulation (improves flowering & fruiting and helps prevent diseases).
• To direct, confine growth, and prevent potential damage (overlapping branches, poor crotch angles).
• To stimulate new growth (rejuvenate old plants, fill bare areas, etc).
• To increase flower and/or fruit production.

• Corrective pruning due to injury or dead tissue should be done as soon as evident.
• Pruning can be done at anytime except in the fall; avoid pruning after August 15 until plants are dormant. 
• Most pruning should be done during the dormant season, depending on flowering time (May Rule).
• May Rule:

1. If the plant blooms before May 1, prune immediately after flowering has ended (flowers are produced on old wood or last year's growth).

Examples: Azaleas, Camellias, Forsythia, Spirea.
 
2. If the plant blooms after May 1, prune during the dormant season (flowers are produced on new growth or current year's growth).

Examples: Crapemyrtles, Lilac Chaste-trees, Gardenias.

• Exception to the May Rule: All Hydrangeas (summer bloomers) should be pruned immediately after flowering.

• Keep equipment clean, sharp, and in good repair.
• Wear appropriate and properly fitted safety equipment for job (eye and ear protection, hard hat, no loose clothing)
• Keep equipment within you control (don’t over extend; know limitations of your equipment and yourself)
• Know your surrounding (overhead utilities, other workers, etc.)
• Be able to identify poison ivy, oak, and sumac, or other skin irritants.

• Thumb & Forefinger (for rubbing off buds and twigs)
• Hand Snips (for small branches < ¾" in diameter)
• Loppers (for branches > ¾" up to 1½" in diameter)
• Pruning Saw (for limbs > 1½" in diameter)
• Shears (use for formal pruning)
• Pole Pruner (for removing tree limbs out of reach) 
• Pruning Knife (for cleaning up cuts) 

• Buds generally grow in the direction they are pointing toward.
• Removing a plant's terminal bud and its apical dominance causes lateral buds below to vigorous break.
• Cuts made are local in effect (regrowth usually occurs within 6" of cut)
• Cuts should be ¼" above a bud or to a crotch (lateral branch)
• Cuts should be made at angles away from buds to prevent standing water and diseases.
• Always sterilize pruning equipment after each cut with rubbing alcohol when removing diseased portions of a plant.

Types of Pruning Cuts and Styles

Pinching

• Removing a single bud to redirect or confine growth.
• Used to direct, encourage, or suppresses growth. 

• Removal of growth in order to create formal hedges and topiaries; resulting in an unnatural appearance.
• Cut plant narrower at the top than on the bottom.; allows more light to reach lower foliage.
• Place a "shoulder’ by rounding off the top of plant.
• Regrowth below cuts will be prolific making plant growth inside canopy more dense.
• Not recommended on shrubs that have large leaves; tends to result in unnatural appearance of leaves cut in half.
• Examples: Dwarf Yaupon Hollies, Boxwoods, some Japanese Hollies, Junipers.

• Making individual cuts inside the canopy; generally at a bud, crotch, or lateral branch.
• Select final size and ideal form before beginning.
• Hides pruning cuts from view, reduces vigorous re-growth, and give plants a more natural appearance. 
• Keep general pruning rules in mind (local in effect, "May Rule", etc.)
• Examples: Chinese Hollies, Japanese Hollies, Crapemyrtles, Azaleas, Camellias, Gardenias.

• Removal of one-third of the existing canes (cut older ones leaving the younger ones). 
• Make cuts within 6" of the ground.
• Opens up the plant and encourages new growth.
• Examples: Nandina, Forsythia, Spirea, Pyracantha

• Cutting entire plant back to within 6-12" of the ground.
• Best done just before the first spring flush of growth.
• Prune each time shoots reach 6 to 8" in length. 
• New shoots formed by suppressed and/or adventitious buds.
• DO NOT use this technique on Junipers or Boxwoods because they don't have buds or their trunks.

• Roses respond most readily to pruning; pruning roses improves the size, quality, and color of blooms.
• As soon as the danger of frost is over, select three to five vigorous, healthy canes to be left to produce flowers.
• The amount of pruning varies with the variety of rose. Because of variations in flowering and growth habits, not all rose varieties are pruned alike. However, the first pruning should remove dead, damaged, or weak growth.
• Prune weak-growing varieties lightly and vigorous-growing varieties more severely. 
• Your pruning can also regulate the number of flowers produced. Leave longer canes if more flowers are desired.
• If large show-type blooms are desired, cut back to a few canes and head the remaining ones back to 12 to 14 inches above the ground.
• Bush roses (grandifloras, hybrid teas, floribundas) should be pruned in early spring after the last frost has occurred or when buds begin to swell.

• Make a ¼ - ½ cut 12" out from trunk on the underside of the limb. 
• Second cut is 18 to 24" from the trunk on the upperside of limb. 
• Remove the 12 to 24" stub to the shoulder collar the of limb (wrinkle area).
• Pruning paint is not recommended; it serves no purpose. 

• Is the removal of fading or spent flowers to promote a second set of flowers.
• Should be done once blooms begin to fade.

Examples: Crapemyrtles, Lilac Chaste-tree, Butterfly Bush.