Host Richard Hentschel talks about dormant pruning . Dormant pruning can be down anytime now before spring growth begins. This is good for most trees and shrubs, hard maples being an exception. It is much easier to plant structure for proper pruning. You can always remove dead wood at any time of the year, spring being one of them. Hentschel talked about the three common methods of pruning, rejuvenation, renewal and heading back cuts. Rejuvenation is great for the smaller fine textured plants. Renewal pruning gives us a new plant over a 3-4 year period and gets rid of established insects and diseases.