Following frigid winter weather, like the severe cold snaps that hit far Southwestern Michigan last winter, fruit tree growers should quickly begin thinking about pruning. The timing and extent of pruning can help keep their orchards healthy into thefuture, according to Bill Shane, senior extension tree fruit specialist at Michigan State University's Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center in Berrien County.For trees that are already struggling to recover from cold damage, the best time to prune is generally in the spring between bud swell and bloom set, he said. Pruning either too late or too early can actually do more harm than good, especially for very young trees and very old trees that have accumulated insults over the years and no longer have a high level of reserves.
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