7 Fruit Trees and Vines You Should Prune in January
There are so many fruit trees and vines to prune in January, and most likely, that includes yours! If you don’t know what kind of pruning to do, or how to do it, fear not. Experienced gardener, Sarah Jay, walks you through the process of pruning seven fruit-bearing plants.
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Winter is the time to prune many fruit-bearing plants. There are so many fruit trees and vines to prune in January that we can’t fit them all in one list. However, we can cover a few of the popular ones that need a snip this month.
In the northern hemisphere, plants are often dormant in January. Unless you live in a frost-free area, it’s a great time to do your annual pruning. Regions on the border between frosty places and frost-free places may notice their trees are already breaking buds. This is an optimal time to prune and shape trees and vines.
Pruning has significant benefits for fruit-bearing plants. It controls the size and shape of plants, directing energy to areas where it’s needed the most. It helps the plant set fruit more effectively and easily. By pruning, you determine the aesthetic of your plant and how it looks in your garden.
For all the plants on this list, always remove the dying, damaged, and diseased branches to the plant’s base. Consider that your first pruning task, and we’ll cover the particulars below. Another note: always clean and sharpen your pruning tools before getting to work.
Apple Trees
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botanical name Malus domestica |
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sun requirements Full sun to partial shade |
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height 15-30′ |
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hardiness zones 4-9 |
Among the most important fruit trees and vines to prune in January are apple trees. These trees are typically dormant, with some areas experiencing bud break around this time of year. Use this time to thin your apple trees and shape them for best growth in spring and summer. This sets your tree up for the healthiest fruit in the fall.
Remove any crossing branches on your ‘Honeycrisp‘ (or other variety) and those that shoot straight up from the base of the tree, known as water spouts. If you tagged any branches that were underperforming during the growing season, remove those. If you didn’t, reserve some tape to mark those in the upcoming season.
Stonefruit
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botanical name Prunus spp. |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 20-30′ |
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hardiness zones 6-13 |
Just like apples, peach, cherry, plum, and apricot trees are dormant this time of year. It’s the perfect opportunity to shape and heavily prune your trees to ensure they have the best growth this year. Because these trees rely on sun access for ripening, open the canopy of the tree and take out crossing branches.
Young trees need heavy pruning in their first few years to promote substantial fruit set. Choose three to five healthy branches that are at a 60 to 90° angle from the trunk. Cut them in half, down to an outside-facing bud. For all trees, take out any new branches that formed below the main branched area of the tree.
Grape Vines
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botanical name Vitis vinifera |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 20’+ |
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hardiness zones 6-10 |
If you want dozens and dozens of grapes in late summer, now is the time for cane pruning your vines. Especially if your vines are trellised in a fan system or bilateral cordon, you want to remove all lateral vine growth that is more than two years old. Don’t touch the trunk in this process.
Do your grapevine pruning between now and the beginning of March. Older vines respond well to hard pruning in January and produce more fruit as a result. It may seem drastic, but all the plants on this list need pruning and attention to give you tons of delicious fruit.
Passionflower
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botanical name Passiflora spp. |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 10-40′ |
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hardiness zones 6-11 |
When you’re growing passionflower, you don’t have to prune in winter, but you can if your vines need renovation. Prune initially in summer after the flowers finish blooming to promote bushier growth. Then, in winter, take out parts of the vines exhibiting the three Ds (dying, damaged, diseased), and any frost-damaged areas.
Reduce the number of offshoots from the main vine to just a few. This reduces the number of blooms, but it makes your vines healthier. Here in North Texas, the native passionvine, P. incarnata, grows like crazy. Winter is a great time to reduce the size of the vines ahead of the growing season to make them more manageable.
Raspberries
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botanical name Rubus spp. |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 3-10′ |
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hardiness zones 5-9 |
Among other fruit trees and vines to prune in January are raspberries. You want to prune them right after you harvest in the fall, but a good reduction prune in winter is important. This goes for blackberries as well. Your winter prune should be much more than your in-season prune.
For floricane raspberries, remove any weak canes that developed over the course of the year, leaving the strongest four to six canes per foot. For primocanes, simply cut them to the ground in dormancy. If you want a small crop in summer, leave four to six of the strongest canes for each foot of width.
Pomegranate
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botanical name Punica granatum |
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sun requirements Full sun to partial shade |
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height 10-12′ |
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hardiness zones 8-10 |
There are many pomegranate varieties out there, and all are among other fruit trees and vines to prune in January as long as they are beyond their first year of growth.
In winter, pomegranate trees need light shaping. Wear gloves! Many species of pomegranate have sharp thorns.
Remove any downward-pointing branches, and thin your tree to the strongest branches. After the third year of growth, your tree won’t need much shaping as long as you’ve carried out pruning in the years between the first year and the third year.
Fig Trees
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botanical name Ficus carica |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 10-30′ |
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hardiness zones 6-9 |
In dormancy, prune figs to shape your tree and reduce its size if needed. This could be as minimal as a few snips here and there, or a moderate prune where whole branches are removed down to the trunk level. Fig tree sap can irritate skin, so wear gloves.
If you’re in a region of the world where fruitlets have already begun to form, leave as many of these on as possible, while still pruning and maintaining the tree. You will have to remove some of them. Take out bare branches, cutting all the way back to the trunk.
