📄 Digital book in PDF · read it on your phone or print it
Fruit buds and leaf buds, the right cut above a bud, the UK winter window, plums and cherries, summer pruning, cordons and espaliers, and old neglected trees. Each topic has its own page: the drawing first, then what you need to remember. 67 illustrated pages.
🔒 Secure checkout · PDF by email · 30-day guarantee
Each page has a large drawing and a box with the sizes, months and steps you need to know:








Swipe to see more →
These are real pages from the book. The table of contents is the full one: 9 parts and 63 topics.
It's a mild Saturday in February. You're standing by the apple tree, secateurs in hand, the plum two metres away, and you can't tell if you're too late for one and too early for the other.
The book on the shelf says 'prune while dormant' somewhere in a long paragraph, then adds the exceptions three pages later. The months are in there, but you can't find them when you need them.

In this book the UK winter window is one page: a calendar bar from November to early March, with apples and pears inside it and plums and cherries marked off in their own season.
The same goes for fruit buds and leaf buds, the cut above a bud, silver leaf, summer pruning and the cordon at 45°. Each one has its own page.
So you go out, check the page, and you know which tree gets cut today and which one waits, without going back to the book.

Reading the tree, the cut itself, apples and pears in winter, plums and cherries, summer pruning, cordons, espaliers and fans, rescuing an old tree, crop and care, and a quick review: 67 pages, all illustrated
Think of it this way:
It's late November. The leaves are down, the tree is bare, and you've got one free afternoon to prune before the weather turns.
You open the page on fruit buds and leaf buds and see them drawn side by side: the plump, downy fruit bud next to the slim leaf bud, with an arrow showing where the secateurs go.

Then the same with the three-cut method for big branches, silver leaf on plums, the three-leaf rule, the first espalier tier and the quarter rule for old trees: each one on its own page.
Fruit Tree Pruning Illustrated is 9 parts and 63 topics, all drawn, ending with the pruning calendar on one page, the frequent mistakes and a before-you-cut checklist.
What you see drawn, you don't have to memorize.
Why a tree gives leaves and no fruit, the five-step reading order, fruit buds and leaf buds, wood age, spurs, spur-bearers and tip-bearers, leaders and laterals, and rootstocks.
The right tool for each branch size, cleaning blades between trees, the cut above a bud, which way the bud faces, the branch collar, the three-cut method and why wound paint is usually not needed.
The UK winter window, dead, diseased and damaged wood first, open centre or central leader, the first three years, the established tree, renewal pruning, thinning spurs and what's different with pears.
Why stone fruit isn't pruned in winter, telling silver leaf apart, light pruning on plums, shaping a young plum, sweet cherries, sour cherries such as Morello, and gumming.
Why and when to prune in summer, the three-leaf rule, the one-leaf rule and secondary growth in September.
Choosing a trained form, wires and posts, the cordon at 45°, building and keeping espalier tiers, the stepover for the allotment edge, and fan-training a plum or cherry.
Whether an old tree is worth saving, the quarter rule, a three-year plan cut by cut, water shoots, and a gentler rescue for old plums and cherries.
Thinning fruit after the June drop, biennial bearing, tidying up after you cut, and one apple tree followed from before to after.
The pruning calendar on one page, four pages of frequent mistakes and a before-you-cut checklist.
At the end of the book: The pruning calendar on one page, four pages of frequent mistakes, a before-you-cut checklist and one tree followed from before to after.

Drawn branches where you mark your own cuts, with the answer on the next page, so you've practised before you go near the tree.

One card per tree and trained form, covering when to prune, what to cut and what to leave. Print them and keep them in the shed.
📄 This is a digital PDF book sent to your email: nothing is printed or shipped.
PDF by email: We email you Fruit Tree Pruning Illustrated as a PDF, together with the two free books. It's a single payment: no installments, no extra charges.
You've planted a young apple or pear, or just moved in with one. You see how to read it and make the formative cuts in the right order from year one.
November to early March is your window. You open the page, check which tree is cut now and which waits, and go out with a plan.
You've pruned by eye for years. Now you can see why there were leaves and no fruit, and you can take on a cordon, an espalier or an old tree.
📄 This is a digital PDF book sent to your email: nothing is printed or shipped.
Try Fruit Tree Pruning Illustrated for 30 days, bonus books included.
We refund everything if the file won't open, if the book isn't what you see here, if you were charged twice or if the email doesn't arrive. Just email us.
You pay once. No subscriptions.
Yes. Part VII covers bringing an old tree back over three years, cut by cut. The rest of the book covers young and established trees, plus cordons, espaliers and fans.
It's written for the UK: months for UK winters and summers, sizes in centimetres and metres. The content follows current UK fruit-pruning guidance, including the advice published by the Royal Horticultural Society, used as a reference.
No. It's an independent illustrated book. It has no connection to the RHS or any other organisation, and none of them endorse it.
No. It's a reference to read and keep to hand. For very large trees or work at height, it doesn't replace hands-on training or a qualified arborist.
Each video shows one tree and one opinion. Here every topic is one drawn page, always in the same order: read the tree, choose the cut, check the month. Apples, pears, plums and cherries in one place, ready to print and take to the tree. The practice branches in the Where Would You Cut? Practice Book were drawn for this book, with the answers on the next page.
As a PDF by email, to the address you enter at checkout, together with the 2 free books.
No. It's a one-off payment, with no subscription.
Yes. The PDF is ready to print at home or at a print shop. The Quick Cards are designed to be printed and kept in the shed.
You have 30 days. We refund everything if the file won't open, if the book isn't what you see on this page, if you were charged twice or if the email doesn't arrive: just email us.
No more rereading pruning notes that never stick.
The fruit bud and the leaf bud: you see them drawn, and that's it.
You go out to the tree knowing where every answer is.
Drawings make studying faster.
The book is right below.
One-time payment: US$ 27 · Guarantee: 30 days · PDF by email
YES, I WANT FRUIT TREE PRUNING ILLUSTRATED FOR US$ 27📄 This is a digital PDF book sent to your email: nothing is printed or shipped.