Best Pruning Shears: Top 7 Brands Most Recommended For Shaping Greenery

You’ve done the hard work of planting a garden, watering the plants, and nurturing your seedlings to help them grow, but now you must maintain your growth and ensure it’s healthy. That’s when you must invest in a pair of the best pruning shears. Pruning is an essential gardening task where you use heavy-duty scissors to snip away dead, damaged, or diseased stems and branches from your plants, bushes, and flowers. Pruning keeps your plants healthy and beautiful and helps stave off diseases and insects.

So, which sets of pruning shears are considered the best available on the market today? StudyFinds did some digging, consulting 10 reputable outdoor, gardening, and home improvement websites to bring you a consensus list of the best pruning shears. Our list comprises the seven most frequently listed pairs of shears from across these sites. Don’t see your favorite pair of pruners on the list? Feel free to share those thoughts with us in the comments section below!

The List: Best Pruning Shears, According to Expert Reviews

1. Felco 2 Pruning Shears

The top spot on the list of the best pruning shears belongs to the Felco 2 Pruning Shears. These are bypass pruning shears capable of handling all types of stems and branches up to one inch in diameter, explains The Spruce. The Felco 2 bypass shears are an excellent choice for diverse landscapes and cutting green, at times stubborn, stems or branches from your flowers, plants, and bushes.

Felco products come with a limited lifetime warranty, giving you peace of mind with your pruning shear purchase, notes USA Today. Still, these are a quality pair of pruners that can tackle tough jobs with your bushes and shrubs or delicate tasks such as with your herbs and flower beds. These pruners give you nice, clean cuts without leaving rough or jagged edges on your plants and shrubs.

Your Best Digs agrees that the Felco 2 Pruning Shears make trimming your branches comfortable and easy. The Felco shears easily cut through green and dead branches alike without much effort or squeezing. The ergonomic grip won’t cause your hands to ache after cutting and they fit nicely into smaller hands. You can’t go wrong with these diverse, all-around pruning shears.

2. Corona ClassicCUT Bypass Pruners

These are some of the most durable shears on the market, explains Tom’s Guide. Even after hundreds of uses on both dead and green branches, the ClassicCUT maintains its cutting ability and stays sharp.

These shears can take on everything from delicate flower stems to dried, deadwood branches on your bushes and shrubs, Better Homes and Gardens highlights. The ClassicCUT shears are designed to cut branches up to one inch thick and come equipped with a small groove that drains away tree sap or moisture. The groove is a small detail that makes a big difference in the life of your shears and the cleanliness of your garden and landscaping.

Bob Vila agrees that these shears have a certain ruggedness about them, making them a solid choice for a range of cutting and trimming tasks. These shears also feature a blade that can be sharpened, further adding to the life of your pruning shears. Overall, the ClassicCUT is an outstanding, durable tool that will last you a long time with the right care and upkeep.

3. Fiskars Bypass Pruners

Next up on the list of the top pairs of pruning shears is the Fiskars Bypass Pruners. Fiskars is known for producing all sorts of cutting implements including kid’s scissors, household scissors, and landscaping and gardening tools. It stands to reason that Fiskars also produces some of the top shears available, writes Bob Vila.

These shears are widely regarded as one of the best budget shears available, notes The Architect’s Guide. But, these Fiskars are far from a cheaply made pair of shears. Fiskars designed a quality pair of pruning shears with a beveled blade and a non-stick high-carbon steel that makes smooth cuts, resists rusting, and is easy to clean. The low-friction coating reduces the risk of sap and other moisture gumming up your shears so they’ll last a long time.

Good Housekeeping raves about the Fiskars locking mechanism. The easy-to-use locking mechanism makes it easy to transport your shears safely and helps maintain the sharpness of the blade when not in use. These shears are capable of easily cutting through stems and branches over ½ inch thick. Add in the Fiskars lifetime guarantee and it’s easy to see how these are some of the best pruners available on the market today.

4. Gonicc Titanium Bypass Pruning Shears

These pruners are some of the most powerful shears on the market, capable of cutting through all types of vegetation, branches, and stems, notes The Architect’s Guide. Gonicc specializes in creating pruners of all types but these Titanium Bypass Pruning Shears are some of the most effective shears this company makes.

The titanium blade is durable and lightweight while the PVC cushioned grip makes using these shears comfortable and easy, explains Your Best Digs. Although the cushioned handles could deteriorate with use over time, these shears are a solid option for cutting a range of green and dead branches.

These shears have been sharpened to perfection and easily snip through stems and branches up to ¾ inch in diameter, notes The Spruce. The Gonicc Titanium Shears are great for all sorts of backyard plants and flowers. Moreover, these shears also have a sap groove that prevents sap and moisture from accumulating on the blades.

5. The Gardener’s Friend Ratchet Pruning Shears

Next up on the list of the top pairs of pruning shears is The Gardener’s Friend Ratchet Pruning Shears. These ratcheting shears are widely considered the best pair of shears for weak or arthritic hands, explains Good Housekeeping. Ratchet pruners provide an easy way to cut tough stems and branches. The pruning shears grip onto the branch or stem and don’t lose their grip when you ratchet them back so your hands won’t tire out as quickly as with regular pruning shears.

Bob Vila agrees that these ratcheting shears from The Gardener’s Friend are the top choice on the market for ratchet pruning shears. The first squeeze of these shears securely grabs the stem while the second squeeze finishes the cut. Even if you don’t have weak hands, these pruning shears are great for making precision cuts or for cutting particularly thick deadwood or branches.

The Gardener’s Friend designed these shears with strong carbon steel and an anvil-style cutting mechanism, furthers Popular Science. The safety lock makes them great for families with curious children and helps maintain the blade when storing these away for the winter. Whether you need the ratcheting feature for cutting stubborn deadwood or helping your arthritis, these pruning shears are well worth the money.

6. Sun Joe Cordless Hand Pruner

The next spot on the list of the best pruning shears features a cordless power option for cutting stems and branches – the Sun Joe Cordless Hand Pruner. Sun Joe produces a range of helpful gardening tools and lawn equipment so it stands to reason that these shears are one of the top powered pruning options on the market. Anyone who suffers from hand cramps or has an expansive garden that requires lots of pruning will benefit from this electric pruner, notes Good Housekeeping.

The Sun Joe Cordless Pruner is powered with 3.6 volts and boasts a load of helpful features including LED lights designed to help you see exactly what it is you’re pruning, explains Bob Vila. Although these pruners weigh a little more than one pound and can be a bit bulky to carry around, you’ll save yourself from having to make cut after cut with your hands. These pruners easily cut through green wood of all sizes up to one inch in diameter.

You won’t have to worry about running out of battery power too soon, either, highlights Tom’s Guide. You should be able to make hundreds of cuts on one charge before having to recharge the battery. That means you can easily take care of your pruning needs on one full charge. It’s also incredibly safe to use. Sun Joe equipped these pruners with a two-trigger safety system to prevent unnecessary cuts or accidents. In all, these Sun Joe pruners are a great option for anyone with grip issues, arthritis, or who wants a break from manual snipping.

7. Fiskars PowerGear2 Pruning Shears

Rounding out the list of the best pruning shears is the Fiskars PowerGear2 Pruning Shears. These shears are designed to give you more control and power over your cuts with less grip pressure, notes Popular Mechanics. The gears inside the pruner amplify your cuts up to three times the normal pressure to offer a shorter cut with more strength.

These bypass pruners are designed for heavy-duty pruning tasks, furthers The Spruce. The gear mechanism allows you to cut through stems and branches up to ¾ inch thick with ease. And, the steel blades on these Fiskars pruners are coated with titanium to make them more resistant to sap and moisture and easier to clean when you’re finished.

Your Best Digs agrees that these pruners are intriguing because they feature a gear and cam mechanism that multiplies your leverage on cuts. Although you might have to get used to cutting with these pruners, you’ll appreciate the extra torque when making tough cuts on certain types of vegetation.

Different types of pruning shears:

Choosing the right shears depends on the types of growth you’re trimming – bushes, plants, flowers, etc. There are a few different types of pruning shears to consider such as:

• Bypass pruners: These are the most common type of pruning shear and are ideal for making clean cuts on live branches. They have two blades that bypass each other like scissors, making a clean cut that heals quickly.
• Anvil pruners: With one sharp blade that cuts against a flat anvil surface, they are good for cutting through dead or dry branches, but they can crush live tissue, which can damage the plant.
• Ratchet pruners: These pruners are similar to bypass pruners, but they have a ratcheting mechanism that allows you to make multiple cuts with one squeeze of the hand. This can be helpful for people with weak hands or for cutting through thick branches.
• Straight blade pruners: With a single straight blade that is similar to a pair of scissors, they are not as powerful as bypass pruners, but they are good for making delicate cuts on flowers or herbs.

Again, choosing the best pruning shears for your yard comes down to a matter of needs. As you can see, it’s typical to need more than one type of pruning shears to keep diverse landscapes and gardens healthy and looking great.

Sources:

• Tom’s Guide
• Better Homes and Gardens
• The Spruce
• USA Today
• Popular Science
• Your Best Digs
• Popular Mechanics
• Bob Vila
• The Architect’s Guide
• Good Housekeeping

Note: This article was not paid for nor sponsored. StudyFinds is not connected to nor partnered with any of the brands mentioned and receives no compensation for its recommendations. This article may contain affiliate links in which we receive a commission if you make a purchase.