Buds might be swelling a little on a variety of spring-blooming tree species, but they are not expected to open this early. Plus, we will almost certainly experience more winter weather before spring truly arrives, and pruning too early could result in winter injury to the tree. Therefore, we recommend waiting until right before (or even during) bloom to do any needed pruning. (Broken branches from storms or other causes can of course be pruned as soon as they're noticed.)

We are currently in the midst of revising many of our fruit growing pages, but our current peach pruning page may be useful regarding how to prune this type of fruit tree. Penn State, Virginia Tech, and other Extension resources also have peach pruning documents/pages, though they tend to get more technical or are geared towards commercial orchards.

Miri