Pruning Tips

Pruning is the practice of removing dead, diseased, weakly attached, or otherwise unwanted branches from trees and shrubs. Correct pruning helps promote plant health, improves visual appeal, and manages safety concerns. Pruning also helps maintain the structure of a landscaped area and can reduce energy consumption.

Generally, the best time to prune evergreens is in late winter or spring before new growth begins. This allows the pruning cuts to heal during the growing season and prevents regrowth from cutting into old, closed wounds.

Many trees and shrubs require regular pruning to achieve their desired shape and form. Often this includes removing dead or damaged limbs, improving airflow around the tree, maintaining proper ground clearance, reducing hazards to people and property, and encouraging flower and fruit production.

When properly done, pruning can be one of the most beneficial maintenance practices for a yard or commercial property. Performing periodic pruning throughout the growing season will help control plant height and width, minimize damage caused by storms or winds, and promote the health of your plants by removing diseased, insect-infested, and broken limbs.

It’s important to prune correctly, using the proper tools, technique and timing. Performing a pruning job improperly can lead to unsightly regrowth, structural defects, pest infestations and diseases, and shorten the life of your trees and shrubs.

Pruning cuts must be made at the right point on a branch, stem or trunk. Cuts should be made as close to the base of the branch or trunk as possible without causing other defects. The type of cut is also an important factor. The cut should be made on an angle that will allow the wound to heal quickly and minimize regrowth, as well as provide access for future pruning and to address any other health problems.

A good rule of thumb when making thinning cuts is to remove no more than 25% of the total branch volume in any one pruning session. This will allow the remaining branches to grow vigorously, promoting a dense, compact growth habit while lowering the overall size of the plant.

Using heading cuts for reshaping a plant, or for shortening existing branches, will also stimulate vigorous regrowth and limit the overall size of the plant. However, this type of pruning is best used for small- to medium-sized plants like lilacs, magnolias, forsythia, azaleas and mountain laurel, as the regrowth will be comparatively slow with these larger plants.

Topping is an inflictive pruning practice that results in unsightly regrowth, weakened branch structures, suckering, and other undesirable effects. It is a bad idea to shear evergreens, as this will ruin their natural form and can cause serious injury or even death to the plant.

Pruning paints and dressings should be avoided, since research shows that they can actually reduce a plant’s ability to compartmentalize wounds and recover from pruning. This is because a pruning dressing seals in moisture and can actually inhibit the formation of a branch bark ridge that is the plant’s first line of defense against pathogens.

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