I was just outside looking at my peach tree (Frost) and it looks to me to be ready to prune. A brooks plum looks ready too. My apples still have leaves. I usually wait for the leaves to fall. Jim

Anytime over the winter that they are fully dormant. They are probably dormant now and will remain so for a couple months at least.

One approach is to thin in January and head back in July. Summer pruning is thought to reduce vigorous re-sprouting (after heading back). However, this past summer or fall I came across a copy of an unfamiliar textbook someone had sold to Half Price Books that said organized trials had not shown a significant reduction in "suckering" resulting from summer pruning.

I pruned quite a bit in the summer, but it didn't make much difference - there is still a forest of water shoots. I just try to spread the pruning around the year so it isn't such a big job in the spring when there are so many other things to be doing. Thanks for the input!

If you are getting that response you may have pruned too hard. Many people do.

Plants don't really go dormant. Something is always happening. Moisture is always moving and replenishing in some fashion. Buds are developing.

Anyway, I start pruning any time after the end of November, with December preferred as the premium month.

Removing sprouts before beneficial dormant spraying, allows much better spray coverage by not having excess limbs in the way.

And prime dormant spray weather for the Pacific NW is often by the end of December and January - stretches of dry cool days.

I was out pruning yesterday and the day before. Got a crabapple, two pears and one apple done. The weather was so nice, I thought it WAS spring! Today, back to the usual - wind and rain. Happy New Year, may all our gardens be better than ever this year!