fruit tree prunings

Is it ok to leave fruit tree prunings on the ground around the tree that the prunings came from?  I don't have a chipper, sometimes I use loppers to cut them into smaller pieces, but by no means are they "chips". I group them under the tree (in my "walkway" that I use when accessing the interior of the tree, in other places under the tree I have groundcover plants).  I was hoping eventually they will break down and provide the conditions that trees like (I can never remember if bacterial or fungal, I just remember wood chips).  Someone told me that leaving the prunings would create the condition for pests to overwinter, so now I wonder what I should do.  I have apple, pear, prune trees.  Thanks

I do that in lots of areas.  I haven't seen any drawbacks to it.  They will just break down more slowly than chips, but they will still turn into great soil.

The only time I would remove those would be if there was some disease or insects were present that could become an issue.
Other than those times, it is prudent to let the tree trimmings become nourishment for the tree. The smaller you can make the pieces, the faster they will rot and go back into the soil.

Redhawk

what about selling apple-tree pruning on craigslist or something? somewhere in the forums someone sold them to people who smoke stuff

I feed them to the bunnies,who strip them of bark,twigs ,and leaves.
Then I use them to smoke pork.

I used them as pea trellis sticks.  I put a beefy stake every 8' down the row, stuck an apple pruning twig in the ground about every 3 inches along the row and then ran some wire/twine down either side of the twigs (from stake to stake) to help hold the twigs upright as the peas grew heavy.

great ideas, thanks everyone

I just save mine for starting fires, though mine are all pretty small prunings and I only have a dozen small fruit trees....