When Is The Best Time To Prune Trees

When Is The Best Time To Prune Trees

Pruning is essential to keep your trees happy and healthy. You need to choose the best time to prune your trees and bushes. If you cut the branches at the wrong time, you could harm your favorite trees. Here are a few things that you need to know before grabbing the shears and heading off towards your trees.

Why Do You Need to Prune?

Pruning is vital to the health of your trees. Routine pruning can remove weak, dead, and diseased branches. In many cases, you can prune throughout the year, but you need to know the type of trees on your property. Tree growth and wound closure are other points to consider before grabbing your pruning shears.

In the winter months, wound closures can be heightened before the spring growing season. These pruning wounds can spread diseases, and you need to know how your tree will react to the removal of branches. For example, oak trees can suffer from wilt due to wound damage. With each cut to the tree, you are changing the way the tree grows. It is essential to plan your cuts carefully. Many homeowners use branch collar cuts to avoid extensive damage to the tree.

For many homeowners, they remove dead or weak branches to help the tree grow stronger and healthier. Pruning is also done to help improve light diffusion or airflow to the crown of the tree. In most cases, pruning is performed to enhance the look of the landscape.

Leave It to the Professionals

You might notice that professional landscaping companies prune throughout the year. However, they know how to prune without any detrimental side effects. These professionals know about the tree’s life stages, such as new growth and dormancy. For many homeowners, they don’t understand the needs of the trees on the property, and their actions can severely harm them. If you insist on pruning your trees by yourself, you should learn about their growing habits to keep them healthy in your yard.

Before You Start Pruning

If you want to do the job by yourself, you need to clip the lower branches of the tree. With a few branches, you can get an assessment from an arborist or tree care company to see the best time to prune your trees. It is always a good idea to take a tree inventory of your property. If you have several trees, you need to know whether they need trimming or not.

For many people, they will consult a local arborist for advice. You can also talk to a qualified tree care company for a thorough assessment. These companies can also verify your trees’ health, and they can even determine the strength of the trees. If there are trees that are ready to fall on your house, these professionals can prune branches so that you can avoid any home damage.

Fall Is Not the Best Time

Many people believe that the fall season is the perfect time to prune. With the leaves falling, you can get a great look at all those limbs. At this time, pruning can damage or kill your tree. During the fall, trees are getting ready to go dormant. They are taking nutrients out of the leaves to store for the colder months. Unless you absolutely need to prune in the fall, you should wait until another time. It is advisable to wait until the spring or winter to give them a trim.

The Best Time to Prune a Tree

There is no set time to prune your trees. Since there are many different varieties of trees, the optimal pruning time will vary with each species. If you have a deciduous tree, you already know that they shed their leaves in the fall. These trees should be pruned in the late fall or early winter. Once the trees have entered the dormant season, you can easily see the branches for a more precise cut.

Younger trees are another story. These trees need to develop a healthy and robust shape, and you can do that with the proper pruning techniques. When these trees are pruned at a young age, they will need less trimming as they mature.

For those living in a subtropical climate, there are some other issues. Trees in these areas can be trimmed year-round. When a tree does lose tissue, it has access to plenty of water and sunshine throughout the year. However, that doesn’t mean that you can prune every day. You should never make a pruning cut to remove more than 30 percent of the tree’s live tissue. For example, if your tree has a broken branch with 30 percent of the leaves on it, you should not prune for the rest of the season. You need to give your tree a chance to recover from the damage.

If you have flowering trees on your property, you need to prune them after the blooming season. You still can prune dying or dead branches from the tree at any time of the year. Once again, you need to check with a professional for your trees’ specific pruning needs.

New trees always pose a few unique challenges for homeowners. With these trees, you want to understand their pruning needs throughout the year. New trees need to be pruned throughout their lifespan to help improve their health and appearance. You want to keep an eye on your trees to make sure that the limbs do not get too big. Larger limbs have a higher chance of more significant wounds. Those wounds will have a more difficult time to heal, and it can leave your tree vulnerable to rot, insects, and diseases.

Pruning can be tricky, and you want to make sure you know your tree’s needs before trimming. Individual trees have specific needs, and you want to prune them at the right time to keep them healthy and safe. If you have any questions about your trees, you need to consult a professional landscaping company.

For more information about caring for your trees, make sure to fill out the contact form.

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