This Fall, Head Back and Thin Out – Prune The Right Way

There have been volumes of books written on the subject of pruning. Pruning can be boisterous. It can sound difficult. And I think the biggest mistake people make is they just don’t do it. They don’t know when, they don’t know how, they don’t know why, they don’t even know if they should prune.

Well, it just so happens that this time of year is perfect for pruning most trees and large plants. So here are some helpful tips to make sure that when it comes to pruning, you can make the cut.

Pruning Basics

There are two types of pruning. Heading back is when you make a plant shorter and narrower. It fosters compact, bushy growth, and we can also make the plant narrower. An example of this is shearing a hedge.
Thinning out is when we go inside the tree and remove limbs and branches to expose the trunk and open up the center of the plant. We do this to trees when branches are crossing and rubbing the bark off of each other, if they’re parallel, or if we want to increase fruit production.

Pruning Heavy Limbs – The Right Way

1. You will be tempted to make your first cut next to the trunk. Don’t! The weight of the limb will cause bark to peel from the trunk.
2. Instead, make three cuts on the limb. The first will be a cut farther away from the trunk. This cut will come from the bottom and go halfway through the branch (A).
3. Then, move your saw to the top of the branch and an inch down from the first cut. Saw downward but don’t let the cuts meet (B).
4. The branch will break naturally between the two cuts. Now the branch weighs less, and you can cut by the trunk without damaging the tree (C).

Did you know?

You should prune most trees in months that have the letter “R” in them. This means September through April is prime pruning time.

Topping Trees: Just Say No!

When it comes to topping trees (cutting off the tops of trees to make them shorter), I have one thing to say about this method of pruning: DON’T DO IT! Here’s why:

1. It doesn’t work. You cannot take a tree that’s genetically programmed to be 50 feet tall and make it be 15 feet just by cutting it.
2. It can cause rot. Those large cut surfaces allow heart rot to proceed downward into the branches, making them hollow and weak.
3. It can cause your tree to break or get uprooted. After being topped, trees form suckers, or water spouts. These spouts produce too many leaves, catch too much wind, and can make branches break off or even cause the whole tree to topple over.

As you can see, topping a tree makes it dangerous, shortens its life, and renders the tree ugly! Just say no to topping!

Organizing Your Tools

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