When to cut back plants - Pruning Schedule

The most asked question on the gardening forums and groups (especially in the early fall) is "when to cut back my plants?". In this article, you will find pruning schedules for the plants.

I am tired of telling them it depends on a lot of factors. Let's understand the two most important factors first:

1. The pruning time varies from plant to plant. (Not every plant has the same best cut-back time)
   It varies due to their bloom time, fruiting time, growth habit, and a few other possible reasons.
2. Your location (This is one of the major reasons, as the climate is not the same for all the locations)

Besides these, there are some exceptional cases like: Age of the Plant, Flowering or Fruiting Cycle, stress, and recovery ability.

I have considered all the factors before creating these pruning schedule charts.

If I start writing pruning time for all the plants one by one, this article will be a never-ending article. It took me a while to figure out the best possible way to organize the pruning schedule for every location.

Here is my plan I implemented in this guide: I created tables that include plant name, USDA Zone with pruning time, and type of pruning.

If you don't know your USDA zone, you can easily find it by just entering your ZIP code here: Find my USDA growing zone (Only for US gardeners)

It might be difficult for you to find a specific plant in the chart. To make it easier for you, I separated the charts into a few major categories based on plant types (flowering plants, herbs, fruit trees, indoor plants, privacy hedges, etc.)

Note: Since I’ve listed many plants in my charts, you might be wondering how accurate or relevant this information really is. Gardening has been a passion in my family for years, and I’m proudly carrying that forward. I cross-checked the data with them before publishing this article and even visited them multiple times to discuss it in detail.

For vegetable plant pruning, I have added the "what to cut and why" columns instead of the pruning type.

Note: If you want a pruning guide for a specific plant, you may subscribe to this site and ask me via the contact button. I will reply with a detailed guide.

This guide outlines the ideal timing for pruning, but only prune if you want to. Pruning is the art of gardening, not a requirement. Use these charts when you're ready to shape your plants for bigger harvests, better health, or your perfect garden style.

In my charts, I have used a column "type of pruning": Soft, medium, and hard pruning.

Before you start looking at the charts, you should know these:

With proper tools, you can make your pruning experience far better.

Flowering Plants' Pruning Schedule

When to cut back herbs - Pruning schedule for herbs

Privacy hedges pruning schedule

Fruit trees pruning schedule

Not all fruit trees require pruning, but in certain situations—such as limited space or the tree growing too tall—you may need to prune your fruit tree. For example: Papaya pruning.

Vegetable plant pruning schedule

Not all the vegetables require pruning. I have added only those vegetables that can give you better harvesting if pruning is done at the right time.