Change in Pruning Schedule? Wisconsin Winters

I am in central WI and we have been having some crazy weather this year! Since every winter has been so hard to predict, it has been making me wonder if pruning schedules need to change to accommodate. Normally, I would get out and prune after the "deep freeze" but before budding, in February or March.



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But we are now in February and temps have been in the 50s. Minoqua even gave up and shut down for the season, so they obviously don't think it is going to get cold enough for the lakes to freeze. I don't know when (or IF) the deep freeze is going to happen! I don't want to wait and wait to do my pruning and go into our typical spring of huge temperature fluctuations with dumpings of snow and then weeks of 60 degrees because the trees are sure to bud out and it'll be too late.

Is it safe to get out and do my pruning? What if I prune and we head into March and get a cold snap for the whole month and the trees haven't healed?

I'd probably get out there and do it ASAP so that you beat the sap starting to flow. Just pick a day that's dry and cold if you can.

Another thing I do is lots of summer pruning. All the plums, peaches and apricots here are subject to bacterial infections that run rampant in our cool and wet winter conditions, so they only get summer work. I also deal with excess leaders and crowding in apples and pears in the summer for a few reasons: taking out vertical growth focuses the tree's energy on fruit production, keeping them short makes it far easier to get nets over them, and it's a really nice time to be out in the orchard working. As a bonus, all those leaders make fantastic tree hay.

Yeah, I am really getting the itch to get out and prune, it just FEELS like the right time! I guess I was just looking for some validation that others are feeling the same way.

Mine also get covered in leaders and suckers as well, so I am with you there, constantly trying to keep them focused in the right direction.
My apple tree is pretty amazing, but the pear tree is a hot mess. I think it had 6 pears total in year one, I cut it back almost entirely, and last spring it exploded, so I am really inspired to do some design pruning this year, and take advantage of the new growth.

We also just opened up the canopy around our plum trees so I need to clean them up before they bud out. There was a mature box elder crowding them that we took out, so they are all kinds of messed up that I need to analyze how to fix.

#newhomeproblems

The phenology spring leaf map is showing over 20 days earlier than usual budding in the south now and the trend is going fast up north. My peach trees are budding already, and it can still go back to frezzing temperature in the next two months. Fingers crossed the fruit trees will have a crop this year.

It's getting really hard for the trees (and really all the living things) to know what to do when nowadays....

I know it got really warm here so I just did it! Even if we get more snow, I can't imagine it will get SOOOO cold that they will be in danger. Crossing my fingers. I didn't prune too hard, just a few problem areas that have been bugging me for a while and have been causing big impacts on the growth patterns so I didn't want the spring burst to be headed in the wrong direction. Still have to work on the plums but they are late bloomers anyway. I'll update if I was wrong haha.