When I first bought a new house, I realized that the front trees were a little overgrown. I was worried about a branch breaking in the wind and smashing into a window or the roof, and so I decided to invest in professional tree service. When the arborist came, he had more concerns than just a few overgrown branches. Apparently, a few of my trees had also developed serious pest infestations, and I was worried about what it might mean for their health. He carefully trimmed each tree to ward off disease, and within a few weeks, they were looking a lot better. This blog explains how a professional tree trimmer could help you, so that you aren't left with dying trees.
Keeping Your Trees Healthy
Three Tips For Efficient Tree Pruning
Joshua Mercier
Tree pruning involves removing unwanted branches of a tree. That is the simple explanation, but the reality is a bit more complicated. The tips below will enlighten you further as far as pruning is concerned:
Identify the Branches to Cut Beforehand
Pruning a tree requires you to be keen. It's not like repairing a bike, where you don't have to worry too much about unscrewing the wrong bolt because you can just replace it and unscrew the right one. Once you cut the wrong branch, it's gone forever. Moreover, cutting too many branches may not be good for your plant's health. It reduces its leaves' cover (and it needs the leaves to manufacture food) and exposes it to different diseases (germs can enter via the cut surfaces).
Therefore, before you cut away some branches, identify the branches to cut and mark them. That way you know which ones to cut once the pruning starts.
Maintain One Dominant Vertical Stem
It's good to identify one dominant vertical stem and stay away from it every pruning season. That is the only way to encourage your plant to grow vertically (assuming you want that) and symmetrically. Prune all other branches while leaving this one intact, and don't cut off its top.
Know Where to Cut
Once you have identified the branches to cut off, you should also know where to do the actual cutting. The best place to cut is just outside the branch collar, which is the place where the branch you wish to cut off leaves the main one to which it is attached. You will know it (the branch collar) by its wrinkled appearance.
Make the cut here because the branch collar is rich with cells that protect the tree from microorganism attack. Removing these defensive cells increases the plants risk of developing an infection. Making the cut at this place also induces the release of hormones that helps to heal the wound.
Limit Pruning of Newly Planted Trees
It's good to prune trees from a young age, because this trains them to grow as you desire. However, this early pruning should be minimal in newly planted trees. In fact, if you have just transplanted a tree, you should only cut off the damaged, diseased limbs, or those that crisscross each other. This is because such trees need all the nutrients they can get to grow. Cutting off branches reduces the number of leaves, where the plant manufactures its food. You also expose the plant to diseases, and it may not have the strength to fight them off at this point.
It's clear that pruning a tree isn't as simple as picking up some cutting tools and removing the branches you think aren't necessary. It requires some careful thought and planning. Contact a professional like Tri-Point Tree & Landscaping for more help.
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