On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. This prune stew is about the pruning of plants in general.

For the pruning of fruit bearing trees, see Fruit tree pruning. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Pruning is a horticultural, arboricultural, and silvicultural practice involving the selective removal of certain parts of a plant, such as branches, buds, or roots.

The practice entails the targeted removal of diseased, damaged, dead, non-productive, structurally unsound, or otherwise unwanted plant material from crop and landscape plants. In nature, meteorological conditions such as wind, ice and snow, and salinity can cause plants to self-prune. This natural shedding is called abscission. Specialized pruning practices may be applied to certain plants, such as roses, fruit trees, and grapevines. It is important when pruning that the tree’s limbs are kept intact, as this is what helps the tree stay upright. Regardless of the overall type of pruning being carried out, each type of union is cut in a particular way so that the branch has less chance of regrowth from the cut area and the best chance of sealing over and compartmentalising decay. Branches die off for a number of reasons including sunlight deficiency, pest and disease damage, and root structure damage.

A dead branch will at some point decay back to the parent stem and fall off. This is normally a slow process but can be hastened by high winds or extreme temperatures. The main reason deadwooding is performed is safety. Another reason for deadwooding is amenity value, i. The physical practice of deadwooding can be carried out most of the year though should be avoied when the tree is coming into leaf. The deadwooding process speeds up the tree’s natural abscission process.