You’ll need much less pruning at planting if you plan to irrigate the young tree frequently during its establishment. Prune all fruit and nut trees at planting time to balance the tops with the roots.Water sprout-A 1-year-old shoot that grows within the tree.Vertical branch-A branch that grows upright.Thinning cut-A pruning cut that removes an entire branch from its point of origin.Sucker sprout-A 1-year-old shoot that grows from the root.

Stub-A short portion of a branch left after a pruning cut.The bud scale scars (ring of small ridges) on a branch mark the start of a season’s growth. Shoot-The length of branch growth in one season.Scaffold limb-A large limb that forms a tree’s framework.Multiple-leader trained trees usually have three to five leaders per tree. In a central-leader trained tree, only one leader is left in the center of the tree. Leader-The uppermost portion of a scaffold limb.

Lateral branch-A side shoot off of another branch, usually at a more horizontal angle.

Heading (or head cut)-A pruning cut that removes only part of a branch.

Crown-The base of the trunk where the tree meets the soil.

The strongest crotch angle is 45 to 60 degrees.

Crotch angle-The angle formed between the trunk and a limb.

It contains specialized cells that seal off pruning wounds from wood rot fungi.

Branch collar-The raised tissue at the base of every branch.

To find out more about this program or connect with Citizen Pruners in your community, please contact or (718) 701-4463. Our partner organization Trees New York certifies residents as volunteer Citizen Tree Pruners who are allowed to prune street tree limbs in accordance with City regulations. Please contact your power utility company as they are under permit from Parks to handle these conditions. If the tree is entangled in electrical wires, our crews cannot prune the tree because of safety concerns around high voltage power lines.

Interference with a traffic signs or signals.

We do not take routine clearance pruning requests, but requests to prune for public safety are accepted via our tree service request system (or call 311) for conditions including: This process allows us to prune a portion of the street trees in each community board every year. Parks prunes established street trees on a neighborhood–by–neighborhood basis.

Download prunes tree