Tree pruning is critical to ensuring your trees grow healthy and strong. It involves removing branches and other damaged, diseased, or overgrown foliage, and doing so encourages new growth in your trees and maintains a neat shape.
If you’ve never had your trees pruned before, or you’re just starting out, here are five things you need to know about tree pruning!
1. There are different methods
Tree pruning isn’t just about lopping off branches and calling it a day. There are several methods, and which one is used depends on what’s appropriate for the tree.
Thinning is the act of removing branches from the crown without significantly changing the tree’s overall shape. It allows more sunlight through your tree canopy.
Reduction means you’re reducing the height or width of the tree by cutting off branches that are too long.
Cleaning or trimming is when you tidy up the overall shape of a tree to make it appear neater.
Structural cuts affect the long-term health of your tree and usually combine two or more tree trimming methods.
2. Tree pruning is necessary
Sometimes, people don’t understand why trees should be pruned in the first place. But if you don’t trim your tree regularly, you risk its health and the safety of everyone around it. Neglected trees develop dead branches that could fall, while overgrown branches could sap away nutrients from other tree parts.
There are many benefits to tree pruning – it gives your plants a healthy, polished look and improves airflow among the branches. It promotes new growth while removing dead or damaged portions. And it reduces the risk of safety hazards and branches tangling in power lines.
3. Tree pruning can be done any time of the year
This doesn’t mean going out and pruning all your trees at once, though! It does mean that there’s no one specific time of year for pruning trees. Each plant has different trimming requirements, so you’ll have to look up the appropriate time to have each tree pruned.
For example, if a tree has buds and new growth, you wouldn’t want to trim it at the time – that would be counterproductive. On the other hand, if you notice deadwood on one particular tree, that would be an excellent time to trim off some of the branches.
4. Tree pruning is a continuous process
You don’t just trim a tree once and never touch it again. Trees need continuous care and attention throughout their lifespan to ensure they’re thriving. At least once a year, assess the health of your trees and see if there’s any damage or disease.
This will help you gauge when it’s the right time to hire a tree pruning service.
5. Tree pruning should be left to professionals
You may feel able to cut off a few branches here and there, and that’s fine for small shrubs and trees. But for more giant trees – especially those over 3 metres – you’ll risk your safety by attempting to prune them yourself! Not only is climbing a tree dangerous but incorrectly pruning your trees could cause irreparable damage to the plant.
Suppose your trees need pruning – whether as regular maintenance or as damage control – hire a professional tree service to handle the job. They’ll take the best care in ensuring your trees are pruned properly and carefully and leave your tree in better health than when they started.
