How To Prune Trees
Everybody wants a great looking yard, and one of the things that creates a really nice landscape is well-pruned trees. By following these simple pruning guidelines, you’ll have beautiful trees that will live strong and healthy lives..
Preparation
Tree trimming, or pruning, is more than just getting rid of dead limbs. It helps a tree grow new, healthy branches. Depending on the size of your trees, refer to the Materials and Tools list on the left. Following are the basics of trimming deciduous trees, which lose their leaves once per year. Refer to the end of these instructions for tips on pruning evergreen trees, which keep their leaves. Also check out Lowe’s selection of garden and landscaping books.
Here are some of the reasons why pruning trees is important:
Safety
|
Hanging limbs can fall and cause damage
or injury, so it’s best to remove them
right away.
|
 |
CAUTION: Don’t attempt to trim trees
near power lines or power poles. Call
your power company or a professional
tree service.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 on the roots—raised soil can mean an unsound root system
and unsafe tree. If you see any of these problems, call an arborist for help.
Promote trees’ health
- Damaged and diseased branches are just extra weight on a tree and should be removed.
- Crossing branches and branches that grow inward can also harm a tree. Eventually, these branches will grow together and rub against each other in the wind, which damages the bark.
Remove undesirable growth
|
Suckers and watersprouts are undesirable growth and should be removed.
Suckers are small trees that grow at the base of the tree trunk. Watersprouts
are small limbs that grow vertically on the dominant branches. Both take
nutrients away from the tree.
|
 |
Direct new growth
- When a limb is pruned, the tree will grow new limbs in a different direction.
That helps develop a strong branching structure. You can actually help make
your tree take on a more desired shape.
Improve fruit and flower production
- By removing spent flowers or fruit, the tree will strive to have a larger bloom or crop production.
Choosing The Best Pruning Time
When is the right time to prune?
Experts advise:
- 01 Pruning non-flowering trees in late winter helps wounds heal throughout the growing season.
- 02 Avoid pruning from the time the buds swell to the time the leaves are fully formed.
- 03 Also do some light pruning during the summer when the trees have full crowns, just to make sure they look their best.
- 04 TIP: If you have newly-planted trees, start pruning about 3 to 4 years after planting. That will give the young tree enough time to grow a healthy network of branches.
Removing Limbs
01 Before cutting any limbs, take a step back from the tree and envision the final results.
|
02 Avoid removing more than 20% of the branches. Also make sure
that living branches make up about 2/3 of the entire tree.
|
 |
03 Look up through the crown (the branching system of the tree) for strong, living branches to be “leaders”, which will form the tree structure.
04 Remove dead or damaged limbs with a hand saw or pole saw. To avoid ripping the
bark on the tree trunk:
|
1. Make the first cut about 1' away from the branch base, on the underside of the limb and cutting about 1/3 of the way through.
2. A little farther out, cut down from the top until the limb breaks off.
3. Look at the bark on the base: the top portion is called the branch bark ridge and the
bottom is the branch collar.
|
 |
4. Cut down and outward just outside of those areas.
5. The tree will heal naturally over a few years, so a tree sealer isn’t necessary.
6. TIP: If the branch is really long, start away from the trunk and remove a few smaller sections so the branch is easier to manage.
05 Check along the leader branches for smaller damaged limbs
and remove them with a pair of sharp shears or loppers.
Remember to cut outside of the branch collar.
06 Once damaged limbs are removed, trim additional branches for new growth. There are two ways to cut a smaller branch:
If the buds on the limb grow opposite each other, make a straight cut just past the buds.
|
If the buds are staggered on the limb, make the cut at a 45-degree angle, with the lowest point opposite the bud and almost even with it.
|
 |
Trimming New Growth
|
A terminal bud is at the end of a branch or shoot. It produces hormones that slow
the growth of other buds along the shoot. Removing it encourages the tree to grow
new lateral buds.
|
 |
Lateral buds grow along the side of the shoot. Lateral buds make the branch bushy,
and they won’t grow until the shoot is long enough to overcome the effect of the
terminal bud, or the terminal bud is clipped.
TIP: To make a tree bushy, remove some of the terminal buds to promote lateral
growth. To thin the tree crown, remove some inner stems back to their point of
origin. This will make the leader branches grow longer.
Trimming Evergreen Trees
Evergreen trees are those trees that do not shed their leaves.
01 Adult evergreens require little or no pruning unless they are damaged by wind or fungal infection.
02 Prune evergreens when they are first planted. Remove extra limbs and shape the tree asneeded. Evergreens are easier to prune and shape when they are small.
03 Prune branches anytime outside of the growing season, which occurs late spring through early fall.
04 Dead limbs, those without green foliage or live tissue under the bark, may be removed at any time.
05 Some evergreen conifers such as juniper and arborvitae develop dead zones, interiors where buds are killed by self-shading.
Severe dead zones cannot be pruned back to health. Instead, consider replacing
the plant, or better yet, prune the plant when it is young to discourage dead zones.
|
06 Pines and other conifers can be pruned to be more compact by pinching the candles (new growth) in half.
|
 |
|
For whorl-branched conifers, do not remove the limbs below the leader, as disease can result.
|
 |
TIP: For the straightest growth, select a bud on the north side of the branch. South-facing buds tend to grow outward rather than upward.
Those are some of the basics for pruning the trees in your yard. For more information, check out the many landscape books available at Lowe’s. And for other great landscape techniques and projects, take a look at the other videos and instructions at Lowes.com/Videos.