trim crab apples in the spring

[Arborsharp]

I have found midMarch-April to be the slowest time of the year: no trimming oaks or elms, homeowners not yet outside and leafless trees don't come as close to roofs nor look as dead and menacing.
The ideal time to trim trees is in the winter, so that the trees can begin sealing wounds right away with spring growth, but in order to continue bringing income, I am thinking of offering a discount to a homeowners association for a bigger trim job if done in that slower time.

what are the implications of trimming a crab apple in early April? I know It's not as ideal for the tree health but would like more explanation of the potential risks.

Thanks!

 

[pining_fir_yew]

One issue id mention is, depending on your location, mature Apple scab spores typically emerge in the last weeks of April.

If you prune on a crab that is badly infected, not only would you move spores from cut to cut but from tree to tree if you aren’t sanitizing tools. Especially if it’s a drizzly day…as it so often is in the spring. The spores get carried from the infected pruning cut by water droplets like gangbusters.

 

[pining_fir_yew]

in early April

Ah sorry I didn’t read closely enough…time for bed. I’d say it’d be a decent option, but I would at least take the precaution of Lysol or 90% alcohol between trees on the tools and avoid working in wet conditions

 

[ATH]

apple scab is a leaf & fruit disease. pruning will NOT spread it...at all. Pruning may help reduce it if it increases air flow through the tree so the leaves dry more quickly. But ultimately, preventative fungicides are really the only effective way to manage scab.

 

[pining_fir_yew]

pruning will NOT spread it...at all.

Apologies for implying that scab would spread to uninfected trees through fresh pruning cuts akin to how a vascular wilt or canker (ie fire blight) might. However, sanitation and debris clean up something I try to mindful of, particularly if I’m pruning on a site where disease spread is a concern.

I definitely agree that pruning is beneficial to open up canopies to airflow and sunlight - and that well-timed fungicide applications are the only effective treatment for Apple scab.

At the end of the day, I tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to pruning sanitation practices. That’s mostly down to how prevalent foliar, bacterial and wilt diseases are in my area.

 

[Arborsharp]

Thanks for the thoughts, I forget to mention that disease when talking with people about crabapple pruning.

my concern was more having open cuts near spring, is the sap flow more of a minor concern?

 

[ATH]

Sap flow isn't a big concern...not going to bleed a tree to death by pruning wounds