Fruit Tree Pruning Done Right

Apple, pear, plum, cherry, peach or fig — get it pruned properly, for a fixed quote you approve before we start.

**Get my pruning quote — the form is at the bottom of this page.**

Send us photos of your tree through the form at the bottom of this page. We will send you an exact written quote. No in-person sales visit, no hourly meter running, no surprise bill at the end.

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## Find your tree

Whatever you searched to get here, this is the work we do:

- **Apple tree pruning** — structure, thinning and rejuvenation of old trees

- **Pear tree pruning** — upright growth controlled, fire blight cut out properly

- **Plum tree pruning** — stone fruit pruned with disease prevention in mind

- **Cherry tree pruning** — height control and an open canopy

- **Peach & nectarine pruning** — renewal of fruiting wood, open-centre shape

- **Fig tree pruning** — light pruning that protects the wood that carries the crop

- **Overgrown fruit tree restoration** — neglected trees brought back in stages, not destroyed in one visit

- **Espalier pruning** — trained trees kept in shape and fruiting

## Does this sound like your tree?

- It has not been pruned in a long time and the middle is a thicket

- The fruit is small, sparse, or only on the outside edges

- It is too tall to pick and the wasps and birds get more than you do

- Branches cross, rub, hang dead, or the tree is pushing into a fence, roof or power line

- Leaves stay wet and spotted and fruit rots on the tree

- A previous pruner hacked it and it has grown back worse

Every one of those is fixable, and most get noticeably better after the first proper prune. What they are not fixed by is topping the tree or shearing it like a hedge. That forces weak regrowth, ruins the structure, and makes the problem bigger than the one you started with. We do not top fruit trees.

## What proper pruning does for your tree

- **More and bigger fruit.** Fruit size and quality come from light reaching the inside of the canopy. A crowded tree shades its own fruit out.

- **Less disease.** Airflow dries leaves and fruit. Scab, mildew, canker and rot all thrive in a closed, damp canopy.

- **A tree you can pick.** Kept at a height you can reach, the crop comes in the kitchen instead of feeding birds.

- **A tree that stays healthy.** Dead, diseased and rubbing wood removed is what keeps a backyard tree alive and safe.

## How we prune

**Species by species.** An apple, a plum and a fig are three different trees with three different needs. Apples take structural pruning well, stone fruit need a light touch and clean cuts because canker and silver leaf enter through wounds, and figs lose their crop if they are cut hard. Your tree gets the pruning its species needs, not a one-size approach.

**Thinning, not hacking.** Most good pruning is thinning cuts that open the canopy. Heading cuts are used deliberately, to build structure or renew fruiting wood — not sprayed around the whole tree.

**Clean, correct cuts.** Cuts made at the branch collar, disease cut out well below the infection, so the tree can seal the wound and the problem does not spread.

## The tree types, in detail

### Apple tree pruning

We build or restore the central leader, space the scaffold branches, thin the middle for light, and manage the fruiting spurs. Old apples that have not been touched in a long time are some of the best candidates for staged restoration — they come back well.

### Pear tree pruning

Pears grow hard and upright, so the work is spreading and thinning more than cutting back. Fire blight is cut out promptly, well below the damaged wood, so it does not keep spreading through the tree.

### Plum tree pruning

Plums are stone fruit, and stone fruit catch silver leaf and canker through pruning wounds, so the cuts are clean, deliberate and kept to what the tree needs. Open-centre shape, light thinning, no heavy cutting.

### Cherry tree pruning

The main jobs are controlling height so the fruit is reachable, and opening the middle so the crop ripens evenly instead of all at once on the outside. Cherries get the same careful, disease-aware cutting as plums.

### Fig tree pruning

Figs carry their breba crop on their older wood, so a hard prune takes the fruit with it. We prune figs lightly: dead and crossing wood out, overall size controlled, and the wood that carries the crop protected.

### Overgrown and neglected fruit trees

The most common job we get. The answer is a plan, not a chainsaw: roughly a quarter of the canopy at each stage, structure first, fruiting wood renewed in stages. A tree that looked finished usually ends up fruiting properly again. One-visit "restorations" that strip a tree are how trees die.

### Espalier and trained fruit trees

Espaliers, cordons and fans are pruned to a strict pattern: side growth kept short to encourage fruit buds, framework branches tied in and kept in line. Done right, a fence line can carry a serious amount of fruit in a small yard.

## Why homeowners hire us instead of doing it themselves

The honest answer is that the failures are expensive. Ladder work with a saw is where homeowners get hurt. Dirty or badly placed cuts are how stone fruit get canker. Taking too much off is how a tree stops fruiting properly, or dies. And a landscaper shearing a fruit tree like a hedge creates a long run of corrective work.

Ascent Yard Care has been pruning trees across Greater Victoria, Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland since 2017. The business is run by Jake Innes, an arborist. You deal with us by email and text, you get a written quote from your photos before any work is booked, and if a tree is too big for us to prune safely we will tell you that straight rather than take the job anyway.

## How getting a quote works

1. **Fill out the form below** and add photos of the tree if you have them. Tell us the tree type if you know it, and what is bothering you: too tall, no fruit, overgrown, diseased, never been pruned.

2. **We send you an exact written quote.** No visit, no obligation, no hourly rate ticking while you decide.

3. **You approve it, we book the work,** prune the tree, and clean up.

## Questions people ask before they book

**How much does fruit tree pruning cost?**

It depends on the size of the tree, how long it has been neglected, and what you want from it. That is exactly why we quote from photos: you get a real number in writing before you commit to anything, instead of a guess.

**My tree has not been pruned in a long time. Is it too late?**

Almost never. It becomes a staged restoration instead of a single prune. Old apples, pears and plums respond especially well.

**Will pruning get me more fruit?**

In most cases yes. Light and airflow are what fruit size and quality are made of, and a crowded tree has neither in its middle.

**Do I need to know what kind of tree it is?**

No. Send a photo of the tree and, if it is in leaf or fruit, a close-up. We will identify it and tell you what it needs.

**Do you prune all types of fruit trees?**

Yes — apple, pear, plum, cherry, peach, nectarine, fig, quince and trained forms like espalier. If you are not sure what you have, the photo in the form is enough.

## Get your fruit tree pruning quote.

Fill out the form below. Photos help us quote exactly. Tell us what the tree is doing that you want fixed, and we will come back with a written quote and a plan for the work.

**Ascent Yard Care** — fruit tree pruning across Greater Victoria, Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. In business since 2017.