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Pruning
Spring is a good time to remove dead, diseased or crossing branches on trees and shrubs. Pruning is actually a wound to a plant, but it is beneficial for the future health of that plant. Once a terminal bud is removed, lateral buds start to grow out.
Cut a branch at a slight angle to make the water run off, and about half an inch above a bud. When cutting a tree branch do not make a flush cut against the trunk, instead do a collar cut which does no damage to the trunk, instead it's just cutting branch tissue. A stub cut is also not recommended. Another bad method is called topping, which is the indeterminate removal of the top one third of a tree. It causes stubs, and eventually bushy growths appear everywhere (called water sprouts) which weaken the tree and look horrible. When using pruning tools make sure your sterilize them with rubbing alcohol, a disinfectant or Lysol. There are hand pruning shears, loppers, saws, pole pruners, and knives.
Fruit trees benefit highly from pruning. Late winter and early spring are the best times just before bud break. There's the open center method - removal of the top center part of a tree, while allowing the young side branches to scaffold out. The leader method - pruning a fruit tree so the center main axis is left. The modified leader method - the tree is allowed to develop two co-dominant leader trunks.
Keep the branches at a 45 degree angle for the best fruit production.
Also prune to allow a lot of light on the inner branches, and to make sure enough air circulates throughout the tree. Flowers need light, air and proper pollination for good fruit formation.
Peaches, plums, cherries need their trunk protected from southwest sunscald which invites borers. Keep the trunk cool till spring.
Once a tree has been pruned avoid the temptation to dress the wound, instead let mother nature form a callus tissue over the cut.
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