Teaming up with Farmer Rich, a seventh-generation fruit and vegetable farmer, we’ve tested a wide range of bypass, anvil and ratchet pruning shears, looking for those that deliver across the board. For reference, we tested each pruner with two gardeners with small (6 ½ x 3 inches) and average-sized (7 1/4 x 3 1/2 inches) hands.

Read the product details and make sure the pruner has a hardened steel blade, ideally “high-tempered carbon steel. But if you want scissors that can cut thicker sucker stems or vines and that you can resharpen, then the Corona – AG Long Straight Snip may be for you.

The Gardener’s Friend Ratchet Pruning Shears offer a very functional ratcheting system that makes cutting thicker or harder branches a breeze. If hand size is a concern, but you want the same functionality, Felco took the design of the Felco 6 and created the Felco 8 for large handed individuals and the Felco 14 for smaller hands. They're pointed to help them get in amongst stems and branches and are ideal for cutting stems between 10 and 15mm thick.

I didn’t mind the open/close mechanism too much either: you just flick down the small switch by the side of the blades (be careful not to get your fingers too close, mind) and a bouncy spring between the handles boings open. For example, there are models that use pulley systems and spring mechanisms to assist in squeezing the shears.While the pruner can be used in both the left and right hand, the thumb lock is designed for right-hand use. It’s worth cleaning this off regularly with wire wool, as well as disinfecting the blades with a weak solution of household disinfectant.

Cheaper brands don’t stay sharp long enough and are not up to the daily pruning of the thousands of rose bushes we have here. Every product featured in The Strategist is rigorously selected by our (obsessive and unbiased) editors. Leave the whetstone in water for about five minutes until soaked through, then gently rub a blade against it to sharpen. The tool also features a built-in sap groove in the bottom blade to help prevent the shears from gumming-up when working with evergreens or other sappy plants.

Age Verification Required: This product is not for sale to people under the age of 18 and will require an online age verification check. With a wide cutting width they feel sturdy in use and although there's no comfort padding on the grip these cut so smoothly there was no strain on the hand or wrist. I use them on houseplants, such as my looming eight-foot Kentia palm, and on various woodier plants on my balcony, such as my raspberry plant and rosemary bush. They can both be cleaned the Japanese way with odourless, non-oily camellia oil and also with a “ Crean Mate” – a scouring block for cleaning resin, rust and other gunks from blades.