Six Tips For Better Tree Pruning
If you have decided to prune your trees yourself rather than hire a tree service, then it is important to be careful. You can't just cut branches willy-nilly and expect things to work out. Follow these six tips to make sure your pruning job helps your tree rather than harming it.
Sanitize Your Shears
Before you use your pruning shears, wipe them off with some rubbing alcohol. Also sanitize them with alcohol between trees. This will help ensure that if any of your trees have an infection, you do not pass it on to the other trees. You can also find sanitizing sprays made specifically for this purpose at a garden store, but alcohol is cheaper and does just as good of a job.
Cut Branches An Inch From the Base
Your instinct might be to trim the branches so they are flush with the tree trunk. But while this might look nice, it's not healthy for the tree. There is a bundle of vascular tissue at the area where the branch meets the trunk. If you cut through this, it will be really hard for the tree to heal. So, leave a 1-inch stub at the base of every branch.
Remove Branches Selectively
Do not remove any more than 1/3 of the tree's branches at once. This will put too much strain on the tree. First, remove the branches that are the oldest and are beginning to look a bit worn and gray. Try not to remove any that are still green and fresh. These are the newest branches and will spring forth the most leaves come spring.
Prune In the Winter
It's best to prune a tree when it is dormant. Late winter to early spring is thus prime season for pruning. If the tree has already begun to bud, you're too late. Pruning it now will cause too much stress, so you're better off skipping pruning this year and just doing it next winter.
Remove Overlapping Branches
One important purpose of pruning is to maintain the shape of the tree. To achieve this goal, make sure you remove branches that overlap each other. Choose the branch that is the older of the two to trim away.
Clean Up Your Trimmings
Do not leave the trimmings on the ground beneath the tree. Fungi can breed in them, re-infecting the tree when the weather warms up. If there are signs of fungal infection, burn the branches.
Contact a company, like Beny's Tree Service, for more help.