Pruning Landscape Trees at the right time will stimulate growth and flowering. Winter pruning for landscape trees. If a tree has been neglected over the years it might need some pruning. You want to assess the tree. What species is it, what’s the tree’s overall health? What is its setting? Is it in your yard, on the street? Do you want it to create a leafy canopy? Is the tree placed for display purposes? Are you pruning for a natural look or more of a stylised appearance?
Pruning Landscape Trees
When pruning, you want to be reasonable and selective. This will help strengthen the tree for many years into the future. To achieve this, a good rule of thumb is to aim to finish with about 66% of the tree’s height still has branches and leaves. You want to leave plenty of leaves so it doesn’t slow growth. Only a third of the total branches should be removed per year. Every branch connected to the main trunk shouldn’t be more than half the main trunk’s thickness. Every pruning cut should only be about 3cm in diameter.
Pruning can go a long way towards getting the results you’re after. Start by moving around the tree to get a sense of it from different angles. You want to find the single leading branch, the thickest line that goes from the centre of the tree up to the top towards the sky. Seek out dead or damaged branches. Whether they’re broken or diseased, they’re the first thing to go when you’re pruning. For example, if there’s a branch that’s damaged and competing for the main branch it’s a good one to remove with a hand saw, as it will be competing for energy and affecting the quality of the tree.
Competing branches are any larger branches that compete for energy from the central branch. You might want to remove or reduce these. With just one leading branch you have a central focal point for the tree. There may also be lateral branches that are competing. Reducing specific portions with a pole saw will slow down the growth of the competing branch.
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