What is the difference between [trimming] and [pruning]?

Question

I have came across two existing tags: trimming (47 questions total) and pruning (480 questions total). I am not sure if these two should be synonyms or they stand on their own.

One of the trimming question, Bonsai identification and pruning tips even has "pruning" in the title while it is only tagged with trimming. But there are questions about the same topic/plant using two different set of tags:

• What is the proper way to prune a pear tree? with pruning.
• What's the best way to renovate mature pear trees? with both trimming and pruning.

So is there any difference? If yes I might post a question on the main site. If not we could consider removing trimming and setting it as a synonym of pruning.

Answer 1

Yes, I think all questions tagged trimming should have that tag removed and retagged as pruning. Then the trimming tag can be removed as an option.

Answer 2

Trimming and pruning are different actions.

Put crudely, you trim with one of these

You prune with one of these

Trimming is the action of keeping a plant in a desired shape and removing excess, untidy growth. Pruning is the removal of dead growth or the encouragement of new growth in a certain area. Pruning is a more targeted action than trimming.

While there may be a little overlap, the two actions are not the same and the tags should not be synonyms.

Answer 3

My impression is that trimming is done on softer, newer growth, and pruning is done on stiffer, older growth, with bark, or branches, and stuff.

You'll note that you don't prune your lawn.

Trim is sometimes used as a synonym for prune (correctly or not), but the reverse doesn't seem true: Trimming might refer to a small amount of pruning, though.

Trimming also seems to be to create a more uniform, even shape. Pruning can be done in a variety of ways. You might prune a whole branch off, for instance (not just make it shorter, or more even with the expectation that it'll grow back).

Answer 4

It's been nearly two years now, and the two tags still don't have any definitions.

I can't edit tags myself, but I'd suggest something like:

• Trimming — removing recent growth (within the last year), typically in order to maintain shape; equivalent to humans having frequent haircuts (which is also called a "trim").
• Pruning — removing old growth (from more than a year ago),typically in order to remove dead or unwanted branches or to drastically change the shape.