Pruning back your trees is one of the most common maintenance activities you will need to do in your garden. Trees in your garden may need to be pruned for a number of reasons, but there can be so many questions for homeowners when it comes to trimming and pruning. What time of year to prune? Which branches should be cut? This guide will give some answers to these questions. It is important to understand the biology of the tree, as improper pruning can damage your tree or even kill it completely.
Reasons to Prune
It is important to consider the reason why you want to prune your tree, as each cut can change how the tree grows. Every cut you make should be well thought out. You may be looking to get rid of dead growth to reduce the likelihood of damage or injury to your home or your family or you may be looking to increase the amount of sunlight reaching down to your flower beds.
Whatever your reason for pruning, make sure that branches you choose to cut are furthering your aim.
When Should You Prune?
You can do light pruning to remove dead branches, or those which are diseased any time of the year. Generally, the tree can recover the most quickly if you do the pruning in the early spring before the rapid growth of summer begins to take place.
Pruning during the times when diseases are likely to proliferate can actually help to spread the disease, so this should be avoided. You can contact your local arborist if you’re not 100% sure about when to prune.
Types of Pruning Activities
- Density Reduction: Can be done to increase light penetration to flower beds on the ground below the tree, or simply for aesthetic purposes.
- Reduction: Sometimes the size of a tree needs to be reduced, usually for construction purposes, such as the installation of a new building or a power line.
- Raising: This is the process of removing the lower branches of a tree, usually to provide ground clearance for vehicles and people to pass by.
- Cleaning: The removal of diseased, dying, or dead branches.
Pruning New Trees
When a tree is young and small, pruning can be done to make a tree stronger and stouter, and produce a pleasing form. If a young tree is pruned correctly it won’t need as much pruning when it gets older.
Every cut made to a tree can change its form and structure, so pruning must be done tactically in order to produce a desirable structure without causing lasting damage.
Call A Professional Arborist
There is more to tree trimming than most people think. If you are trimming a very large tree, it can even be dangerous. Sometimes these kinds of jobs are better left up to the professionals.
If you’re feeling befuddled when you think about trimming the trees in your yard, call Seattle Landscaping Design. We offer tree trimming services of all kinds, from routine trimming and pruning, all the way to complete tree and stump removal.