Pruning plum, cherry and other stone fruit trees in winter carries a huge risk – experts are warning that trimming them too early could cause irreversible damage

If you’ve got a plum, cherry, peach or apricot tree in your garden, don’t be tempted to prune it this month – cutting back stone fruit varieties in winter can spell disaster for the trees.

Even though we’re in the middle of the dormant season, there are plenty of plants you should never prune in midwinter – and stone fruit trees, unlike their apple and pear counterparts, should be left well alone.

Here’s why pruning stone fruit trees in winter is so risky.

If you’ve got a tree that grows fruit with a stone in the middle, it’s best to leave it to its own devices this month.

‘If you were to prune these trees in January or February, the open wounds you create will not heal, as the trees are dormant and can't seal the fresh cuts,’ warns Lucie Bradley, gardening and greenhouse expert at Easy Garden Irrigation.

Those open wounds are especially vulnerable to bacterial and fungal infections at this time of the year. One of the biggest threats is silver leaf disease, which spreads through fungal spores. Pruning cuts are the perfect entryway for those spores, and the disease that takes hold can spell doom for a stone fruit tree.

‘It’s known as ‘silver leaf’ disease because it produces a distinctive silvery sheen on the leaves when they appear later in spring and summer,’ Lucie explains.

That’s why the best time to prune plum trees, for example, is during their active growth period in the summer – and the same applies to cherry, apricot and peach trees.

That isn’t the only infection to be concerned about – pruning stone fruit trees in winter offers an open invitation to bacterial canker, too.

‘Bacterial canker thrives in the cool, wet weather of late winter and early spring and is often fatal,’ says Lucie. ‘As your stone fruit trees are dormant during winter, an open pruning wound gives the bacteria Pseudomonas syringae time to spread through the tree while it’s at its weakest.’

So, pruning stone fruit trees in winter simply isn’t worth the risk. You can prune apple trees and pear trees in winter, though, and it’s actually considered a good time to do it if you want to encourage vigorous growth in the spring.

‘Winter pruning is the most important for young apple and pear trees because this pruning is growth-stimulating,’ explains Monique Kemperman from Plants and Flower Foundation Holland.

It’s also a brilliant time to plant fruit trees, provided the ground is workable. Plum ‘Little Vic’ from Gardening Express is perfect for growing in a pot on the patio, and there are plenty of other places you can buy fruit trees from, too.

Fruit tree pruning essentials

For when you can prune!

Leave your plum, gage, damson, apricot, peach and apricot trees well alone this winter!