How to Prune and Trim a Tree - Do It Yourself

My grandfather owned an apple orchard in the western Pennsylvania and his philosophy of pruning trees was to cut it until you could throw a horse through it. Now we’re not going to recommend anything quite that severe. But we will show you some tips on how to prune your trees so they look better and stay healthier too. Tree trimming or pruning is more than just getting rid of dead limbs and helps to treat with our new healthy braches. Now depending on the size of your trees, you may need a few of the following tools; scissor cut shears, some loppers, a pruning saw and pole saw for large branches, a ladder, work gloves and safety glasses and a hard hat for working on the large limbs. There are basically two types of trees; deciduous and evergreen. Deciduous trees are the ones that lose their leaves every year and evergreen trees of course are those that stay green year round. We’re going to talk about a few of the basics of trimming deciduous trees. For tips on pruning evergreen trees and some other information, read the printable instructions at Lowes.com/videos. Also, check out Lowe’s selection of gardening and landscaping books. Now when you’re pruning trees, be sure to keep safety in mind at all times. Always look for hanging limbs and power lines. Oh and if your trees are on your power lines, call a professional for help. One more thing about working with ladders, use extreme caution, never work with your feet higher than six feet off the ground and never use a chain saw while you’re on a ladder. Okay, now let’s take a look at some reasons while pruning is important. First of course is safety. Hanging limbs can fall and cause damage or injury. So it’s best to remove them right away. It’s a good idea to check your trees health every season. Look for decayed and hollow areas on the trunk or main limbs as well as peeling bark on the trunk. Also, keep an eye o the roots, raised soil can mean an unsound root system and an unsafe tree. If you see any of these problems, call an arborist for help. Next is safety, pruning is important for a trees health. Damaged and diseased branches are just extra weight on a tree and it should be removed. Then pay attention to branches that grow inward and those that cross. As crossing branches move in the wind and could be damaged by the friction and eventually break. Also look for two branches forming a V-crotch. One of these branches should be removed. If not, the bark will be forced to grow into the wood or the branch attachment, which makes the limb weak. Water sprouts and suckers should be removed too. Suckers are small trees that grow at the base of the tree trunk. Water sprouts are small limbs that grow vertically from the dominant branches. Well suckers and water sprouts take nutrients away from the tree. They could be removed with a pair of scissor cut shears. Now besides getting rid of growth we don’t want and limbs that are damaged, pruning can direct growth in ways we do want. When you prune a limb, your tree will grow limbs in different directions and then helps develop a strong branching structure. Pruning will also help your tree produce more fruit and flowers. But when is the right time to prune? Well that depends. Now typically, for flowering trees that blossom in early spring, it is best to trim them after the flowers bloom during summer. For trees that blossom in late spring, it is best to prune during the dormant season of fall or winter. Non flowering trees should be trimmed in winter which helps heal wounds throughout the growing season. You should avoid pruning from the time the bud swell to the time the leaves are fully formed. Now you can do some light trimming during the summer when the trees have full crowns just to make sure they look their best. But don’t remove more than 20% of the crown. Now before cutting any limbs, it’s a good idea just to take a step back from the tree. Envision the final results. Look up through the crown for strong living branches to be the leaders which form the tree structure. Now once you’ve picked out your leaders, you want to cut off the dead or damaged limbs. Here take a look at this limb. It shows no signs of life, so we’ll take it down. Now you could use a hand saw but a pole saw is going to be easier and safer. If your branch is really long, start away from the trunk and remove a few smaller sections so the branch is easier to manage. Now, it’s important to avoid ripping the bark on the tree so here’s what you do. You make your first cut about a foot away from the branch base on the underside of the limb. Cut about a third of the way through. Then a little farther up from that, cut down from the top until the limb breaks off. Now before we remove the rest, notice the bark at the base. The top portion is called the branch bark ridge; the flared base of the branch is the branch collar. We want to cut down and outward just outside of these areas. And don’t worry about sealing the base. The tree will heal naturally in a few years. Be sure to check along the leader branch for smaller damage limbs, which can be removed with a pair of sharp shears or loppers. Just remember to cut outside of the branch collar. All right, that takes care of our damage limbs. Now we can concentrate on new growth. So let’s talk about buds. Now a terminal bud at the end of the branch or shoot-produces hormones that slow the growth of other buds along the shoot. Lateral buds grow along the side of the shoot that made the branch bushy. But they won’t grow until the shoot is long enough to overcome the effect of the terminal bud or the terminal bud is clipped. Now if you want to thin the tree crown, you could remove some of the smaller branches at the main trunk back at the point of origin. That will make the leader branches grow longer. Pruning your trees the right way and for the right reasons will make them look better and stay healthier. For some other great landscape techniques and project, be sure to visit Lowes.com/videos.