If you focus on pruning your trees, you will work on promoting good plant health and will help to remove any damaged limbs and other problems that can mess with your trees. But, what is pruning and why do you need to do it in your garden and on your trees?
Pruning isn’t what happens to you whenever you get out of the bath! Pruning is defined as a way to selectively remove parts of a plant. These include branches, buds, roots, and other parts of the plant that are not going to benefit it. Pruning focuses on the targeted removal of any sick or dead or damaged parts of the plant, in order to keep the rest of the plant healthy.
Pruning also works best for younger plants as they are able to compartmentalize the damage and shut down the spread of decay or damage. Pruning is very beneficial, but it also can be done the wrong way, and many people tend to have problems with what exactly needs to be pruned.
What Should Be Pruned?
Well, they call it the ‘Four D’s’ for what should be pruned: Diseased parts, damaged parts, dead parts, and decayed parts. You should be able to see these parts of the tree whenever you go outside and those will need to be pruned. From dead snapped branches, broken limbs, hanging branches that are too close to the house, or branches that are crossing together, these are the things to snap off.
Additionally, if you have branches that are obstructing the view of your street, traffic, or other things, you need to trim those branches and make sure you can see them.
Direct and Control The Growth
If you have trees that are close to your house, a shed, or another structure, then you might want to keep the larger branches away from the house. You can use pruning to influence the growth and the direction of the trees because every single time you make a cut in the tree on one side you influence its growth.
Especially for younger trees near your home, this can be a great way to keep your tree from growing around these structures.
How To Prune
Once you have found the branches that need to be pruned, you must focus on whether the plant has flowered. Once the plant has flowered, then you need to focus on the branch that needs to be pruned. Take a look at the branch and then take your pruning saw and make three cuts. First, cut about a foot from the branch collar and cut about a third of the way through the branch. Then cut from the branch top about an inch further out and saw through the branch until it snaps off.
Then you need to place the saw by the branch collar and then start cutting down to saw the rest of the branch off. Depending on the thickness of the branch, this could take a bit, but eventually, the damaged branch will be snapped off.
Keep Your Trees Maintained
Pruning is the best way to remove the problems with your trees to keep them maintained, but also it can keep them healthy. If you notice that the tree is decayed or damaged, don’t waste time pruning it and keeping your tree healthy. Pruning doesn’t take too long and also doesn’t take much effort, you just need to cut the majority of the branch off and then cut off the rest, and you are good to go!
Keep an eye on your trees and get pruning, and you’ll certainly notice some improvements to your plants!
Prune the Right Way with American Tree & Lawn
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