Recommendations for a Professional Fruit Tree Expert - Ask Extension
We just bought a house which has a big old apple tree, 2 pear trees, and a giant green fig tree that have been neglected and are in bad need of prunin...
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Recommendations for a Professional Fruit Tree Expert #926199
Asked March 17, 2026, 6:57 PM EDT
We just bought a house which has a big old apple tree, 2 pear trees, and a giant green fig tree that have been neglected and are in bad need of pruning. I am having a hard time finding a fruit tree expert because when googling, pretty much just regular tree services come up. So, I'm hoping you can help point me in a better direction, or possibly have a few experts or companies you could recommend. NOTE: We are willing to do the pruning ourselves; we just need someone to tell us if they're worth saving, and if so, how best to prune them.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
~ Danielle
Washington County Oregon
Expert Response
It is possible to rehabilitate apple, pear, and fig trees. However, there’s more to it than just pruning. Diseases and pests need to be controlled. There are organic and conventional sprays and cultural steps homeowners can take to reduce insects and fungal disease. Read through the sections for your plants in EC 63, about managing disease and pests to have an idea of likely treatments you face dealing with.
I am not able to make recommendations to commercial services, but I have seen some tree companies pruning and spraying fruit trees. Search for certified arborists and make calls to find those with experience dealing with your types of trees.
OSU Extension has some great videos and workshops on pruning. They are fairly easy to find, just include “OSU Extension” in your search. This from Clackamas Master Gardeners is an example.
You might not know if you even like the varieties of fruit you have growing. For this year, the apple and pear tree pruning is a bit easy—remove dead, crossing, and upright “water shoots”. (There are a lot of them.) When you know more about the fruit and level of disease present, you can better consider options. The boundary trees on a fence line might be growing unintentionally, because that’s not a natural place to put a carefully chosen type of fruit tree. Seedling trees seldom have great fruit, and cleaning fallen fruit on the neighbor’s side is a challenge. You may find those worth removing.
The fig tree might be rewarding with less effort than the others—if you are home in summertime to harvest every few days as they ripen. And if you like figs. I find pruning them a challenge, and tend to have years with no fruit because I severely pruned to get fruit-wood growing within reach again. Study some fig tree pruning advice, though, and you can get a rhythm going. This is a starting point for OSU fig-growing advice.
I hope this rambling answer helps you. Please ask followup questions as needed. Oh, and PNW 400 is our standard pruning publication, with helpful drawings. Check out the Jenkins Estate Master Gardeners demonstration garden too, see information here.
Enjoy spring as you plan for summer!
I am not able to make recommendations to commercial services, but I have seen some tree companies pruning and spraying fruit trees. Search for certified arborists and make calls to find those with experience dealing with your types of trees.
OSU Extension has some great videos and workshops on pruning. They are fairly easy to find, just include “OSU Extension” in your search. This from Clackamas Master Gardeners is an example.
You might not know if you even like the varieties of fruit you have growing. For this year, the apple and pear tree pruning is a bit easy—remove dead, crossing, and upright “water shoots”. (There are a lot of them.) When you know more about the fruit and level of disease present, you can better consider options. The boundary trees on a fence line might be growing unintentionally, because that’s not a natural place to put a carefully chosen type of fruit tree. Seedling trees seldom have great fruit, and cleaning fallen fruit on the neighbor’s side is a challenge. You may find those worth removing.
The fig tree might be rewarding with less effort than the others—if you are home in summertime to harvest every few days as they ripen. And if you like figs. I find pruning them a challenge, and tend to have years with no fruit because I severely pruned to get fruit-wood growing within reach again. Study some fig tree pruning advice, though, and you can get a rhythm going. This is a starting point for OSU fig-growing advice.
I hope this rambling answer helps you. Please ask followup questions as needed. Oh, and PNW 400 is our standard pruning publication, with helpful drawings. Check out the Jenkins Estate Master Gardeners demonstration garden too, see information here.
Enjoy spring as you plan for summer!
