Pruning Your Trees for Health and Shape

Summer is the ideal time to prune your trees, because at this time of the year you can see exactly what you are doing and can readily prune according to specific requirements. Dormant or winter pruning, on the other gland, is usually done with considerable severity and in many case, is a rather hit-or-miss procedure.

Any tree can be pruned during summer and, as a matter of fact, for trees that are known as “bleeders” it is by far the best time of the year to prune them. The sugar maple, dogwood and birch are all notorious bleeders, and so are the horse chestnut and yellow-wood to a slightly lesser extent.

If these trees are pruned in the late dormant season or early spring, they bleed profusely and thus form patches of slime over the cuts or wounds. These slime fluxes contain yeast, bacteria, nematodes and other organisms which cause disagreeable odors and an unsightly appearance. They also attract undesirable insects. By delaying the pruning until the summer months, however the bleeders are much less likely to be troubled with excess slap and the aftermath of flux.

Summer Pruning Makes Compact Growth

Summer pruning also makes for compact growth since twig, and small branches have extended themselves in early spring. Winter pruning, however, results in long twig growth and consequently in spreading rather than compact development. Because of this, summer is the proper time to prune shade or ornamental trees with a view to restricting their size or to shaping their pattern of growth.

By careful, methodical pruning during summer, it is therefore possible to keep a tree within almost any bounds desired. Even such trees, as oaks, elms and hickories, which ordinarily grow very tall, can be kept dwarfed to 10 or 12 feet in height by systematic summer pruning. They would not, of course, be naturalistic specimens, but they would be extremely interesting and would also permit growing a dozen orr so species on even a small suburban plot.

The advantage of summer pruning as in regards to normal restrictive training of trees is that any homeowner can see exactly what effect the removal of a branch or limb will leave when the tree is in full leaf, whereas when the tree is dormant they cannot do much better than guess. A tree expert of course determine fairly accurately what the effects of dormant season pruning will be, but even their calculations would be much less, precise than they would be in summer.

During the summer too, the creeping effects of disease can be much more readily detected than during winter and early spring. Healthy trees have foliage which stands more or less erect on the branch, and so when leaves are seen to wilt, or flag, it may usually be assumed that some disease is responsible. Dutch elm disease is one of the diseases that shows its presence in this fashion. Pruning immediately, and well below the point of infection, can avert the spread of the disease to the rest of the tree, even in the case of the dreaded Dutch elm disease.

How & When to Prune

How to prune is, of course, just as important as when to prune. Cuts should always be made flush with the trunk, or flush with the larger limb if a smaller one is being removed. This practice avoids protruding stubs, hastens healing, helps safeguard against infection and, of course, helps preserve the tree’s beauty.

And when removing large limbs, remember above all else to avoid stripping down the live bark below the point of amputation. Large limbs are extremely heavy and their weight when falling can result in long gashes of torn bark. The easiest way to avoid this is to make preliminary cuts, so as to remove most of the limb before the final cut is made.

In making the preliminary cut, saw from below a few inches out from where the final cut is to be made. When the saw sticks, remove it and make a secondary cut front above, about 1/2 inch till either side of the lower cut, and continue sawing until the limb falls. Now that the limb has been removed, you are ready for the final cut which, as already stated, should be flush with the trunk.

When limbs and branches have been removed, any cuts that are more than an inch in diameter should be properly treated with an approved wound dressing so as to prevent infection and thus assist the tree to heal its wounds. The oils in many ordinary paints are often injurious to trees.

Related Articles Of Interest:

• 3 Tips On Pruning Trees and Shrubs – Why, How, When
• Pruning Climbing Roses – Essential Things To Know
• Tips on Caring and Feeding Garden Trees
• Landscaping Trees Offers Shade and Increases Property Value