Species + month
Seasonal pruning calendar
Tell it the species and the month and get a clear answer: prune now, or wait — including the oak-wilt no-prune window every Kansas oak owner should know.
Most pruning advice collapses to “prune in winter”, which is right often enough to be useful and wrong in exactly the cases that matter. Prune a red oak in May and you have opened a door for oak wilt. Prune an American elm in June and you have called the beetles that carry Dutch elm disease. Prune a redbud in January and you have traded away the reason you planted it.
Pick a species and the whole year fills in — every month marked prune, acceptable with care, or wait, with the reasoning for the month you choose. Each verdict is derived from that species’ own pruning window, which is shown beside the answer, verbatim, as the authority.
Pick a species to fill in the year.
Our tools provide general education based on your answers. They are not a diagnosis, a safety inspection, or professional advice.
Honest boundaries
What this cannot tell you
This answers one question — is this a good month — and it is education rather than an inspection. The rest of pruning is a different set of questions.
Whether this tree needs pruning at all
A right month is not a reason. Routine thinning of a healthy mature canopy is work the tree did not ask for, and the cuts worth making on a mature tree are specific ones — deadwood, clearance, storm damage, a limb over something that matters.
Which cuts to make, or where
Timing is the easy half. Where a cut lands relative to the branch collar decides whether the wound ever closes, and how much you remove at once decides how the tree answers. Neither is a calendar question.
What the weather is doing this week
A hard freeze, a wet stretch, or a run of extreme heat all shift what is sensible inside an otherwise good month — honey locust in particular wants dry weather rather than merely the right season.
What cultivar you have
Named cultivars and hybrids can behave differently from the species, and a disease-resistant elm is a different proposition from a seedling one. If the tag said something more specific than the common name, it is worth checking.
Whether the job is yours
Anything that needs both feet off the ground, anything near a service drop or power line, and cuts larger than about four inches on a tree you intend to keep are all work to hand over — in any month.
A “wait” verdict never covers dead or hazardous wood. A dead limb, a broken hanger, or storm damage over a drive, walk, or play area comes out when it is found, whatever the month says.
Keep going
The guides behind these verdicts
Timing is the part a tool can answer. Technique, judgement, and whether the cut is needed at all live on these pages.
- Month-by-month tree calendarEvery month's focus, tasks, and the one thing worth watching for — pruning is a single line in a longer year.
- Tree care basicsHow to prune, how much is too much, the deadwood rule, and the jobs worth handing over.
- Kansas species directoryAll twenty-two profiles, each with its own pruning window and the reasoning behind it.
- Pest & disease libraryOak wilt, Dutch elm disease, and the other reasons a pruning window exists in the first place.
Kansas Tree Guide is an independent educational resource. Nothing on this site replaces an on-site assessment by a qualified arborist or tree-care professional. Last reviewed August 2026.