Scheduling regular trimmings is an essential part of keeping your trees strong and healthy. After all, removing the weight of dead and diseased branches allows these natural marvels to facilitate new and healthy growth. But before you call someone out to start cutting branches, learn a bit about how to trim and prune your trees without causing damage so that you know what to expect.
Use the Right Equipment
Pruning trees correctly has much to do with the equipment each job requires. So, it’s imperative to hire a professional with extensive knowledge of the best trimming tools and how to use them most effectively. For instance, if an adolescent tree’s branches need simple, precise cuts, your trimmer will likely only need a pair of sharp cutting shears to get the job done. Conversely, if you have an older, more mature tree with thick branches, the ideal tool would be something more like a handheld electric saw. Either way, hiring a professional who understands these nuances is integral to pruning your trees correctly without damaging them.
Select the Best Pruning Treatment
Just as extensive knowledge of equipment leads to successful trims, so does understanding the numerous trimming techniques and how they facilitate new growth. There are various ways to prune our tall, green friends, but here are the three we think are most effective:
- Crown thinning: This technique requires the trimmer to cut back live branches to reduce their overall density. This provides more sunlight and air circulation to the tree.
- Crown reduction: Generally used on more mature trees, crown reduction entails cutting a branch back into a lateral branch so that new growth will happen almost instantly when spring arrives. This technique is also much gentler than others.
- Crown cleaning: This technique is the most common, as it involves simply cutting back old, diseased, and dying branches on a tree. Crown cleaning pushes out the old branches so that the tree can focus its energy on growing healthy new ones.
Of course, selecting the best options for your pruning needs on your own can be challenging. You can always call a Sid Mourning Tree professional for tree trimming in Austin, Texas. They’ll help you pinpoint the best pruning treatment for each of your trees and figure out the best way to proceed. You won’t have to worry about the heavy lifting, and you can feel confident that your trees are receiving quality care.
Schedule Trims in Midwinter
Trees indeed benefit from regular pruning in any season, but scheduling your significant trims in midwinter—when the tree’s growth is slow or even dormant—is a simple way to ensure your trees have a successful spring without overcutting or harming them. Once warmer weather prevails, your trees will have already lost their dead weight, so they’ll be able to expend their energy on new growth right away.
Cutting the dead weight from your trees is a vital part of caring for them properly. Hopefully, this quick guide has provided you with a deeper understanding of how to trim and prune your trees without causing damage so that you know what to expect and can hire the right person to help your trees thrive for years to come.