Distinguish thinning cuts from heading cuts in pruning.

• A. Thinning cuts remove a whole shoot or branch to reduce size; heading cuts shorten the terminal portion to encourage branching.
• B. Thinning cuts shorten the terminal portion to encourage branching; heading cuts remove a whole shoot or branch to reduce size.
• C. Thinning cuts remove a whole shoot or branch to reduce size; heading cuts shorten the terminal portion to encourage branching.
• D. Thinning cuts remove only leaves; heading cuts remove bark.

Answer: (C)

Thinning cuts remove an entire shoot or branch at its point of origin to reduce the plant’s size and density, while heading cuts shorten the tip of a branch to stimulate growth from latent buds and encourage more branching. This distinction matters because thinning keeps the plant’s overall structure and light penetration relatively stable, whereas heading cuts actively force new growth near the cut, making the plant bushier. So the description that thinning cuts remove a whole shoot or branch to reduce size and heading cuts shorten the terminal portion to encourage branching captures the fundamental difference. Avoiding cuts that simply remove leaves or bark is also important, since those aren’t the pruning actions described here.