Pruning Apple, Pear, Peach, thuja March 1st

It is almost March first on Vancouver Island. It went down to seven below last night but this is very unusual and we are generally very mild in the 7 above during the day and 2 to 4 above at night . I have three apple trees and three pear trees that need pruning plus a peach tree. There are also a number of Thuja type shrubs from 4 to 7 feet tall that need shaping and three need to have up to two feet cut off the top. Any suggestions? Is it the right time of the year for pruning. Will the trees take a rather heavy pruning so close to bud sprouting time?

 

The orchard fruits won't care about the cold but I would wait on the arborvitaes until much later in spring so they start to fill back in right after. And I would not take 2' off, you will end up with a big bald section - these do not sprout at well from the old bare interior portions.

 

I have always governed myself by the rule that apples should be pruned when it is as cold as possible. I pruned mine recently only because I was too busy to do so earlier.

 

As Ron implied, it is not too late to prune the fruit trees. I prune mine any time of the year and have never had any problems. I often prune in the spring after the flower buds are obvious in order to remove unproductive branches.