Personally I prune my trees to look the way I want them to. If one branch gets out of hand, I cut it. Just dont do rootwork and pruning at the same time. When the tree gets to flowering age, from what I have read, its recommended to prune after the flowering in spring.

It sounds like it is a newly planted or potted plant. If so, you should wait until next spring to prune as you do not want to stress your plant. If it is already established, then go for it. You can prune it any way you like.

Beware! When you cut, don't cut too flush! If you do, in a couple three years you'll wind up with something like this:

{{gwi:623889}}

Learn from my mistake! Leave the branch collar when you trim!

The advice above is good and safe.

Without seeing a picture to determine if the tree looks unhealthy, I'd be more aggressive since if there are no leaves on the branch at all, the tree will likely shed the branches soon anyway. Preempting that by removing it yourself just sacrifices a few of the nutrients in the branch. I also have seen recovering trees hang on to bare branches for a very long time and then re-sprout on them -- which is a situation you don't want either.

If your tree is healthy, and you're removing just a few, the effect should be minimal, even if recently planted.

Just depends on your risk tolerance vs. aesthetic preferences.

Displacer: Yeah that close cut can expose the trunk to possible problems -- but as far as aesthetics only, leaving the branch color looks just as ugly IMO. I recently purchased a Midknight Valencia on Swingle and that trunk is sprouting lots from the stock. Even when pinched off early by hand, they leave protruding collars that look disfiguring and somewhat gross. I don't see that happen on PT at all.

I think it's true in the short-term that leaving a little collar is more ugly, but in the long-term it seems to eventually look better than cutting flush. That hideous knot in my picture didn't appear until almost 2 years after I'd made the cut. A little bit of collar, on the other hand, seems to be subsumed over time as the trunk or branch grows thicker.

I think it's true in the short-term that leaving a little collar is more ugly, but in the long-term it seems to eventually look better than cutting flush. That hideous knot in my picture didn't appear until almost 2 years after I'd made the cut. A little bit of collar, on the other hand, seems to be subsumed over time as the trunk or branch grows thicker.