Having a home garden with trees can bring a very pleasant feeling of peace and tranquility by helping to isolate the home from the outside world. But, like the rest of the plants in the garden, trees need constant maintenance and care such as pruning so that they grow healthy and strong, although the truth is that most people do not know how to prune a tree correctly.
Pruning a tree correctly is essential, since if it is done in the wrong way we can cause damage that, in the worst case, can be irreversible. At www.santamariatreeservices.com we carry out interesting techniques to carry out pruning, but before carrying it out it is necessary that you know the most outstanding tips.
Top tips for proper tree pruning
Among the large number of tips that we can offer to perform a correct pruning, the following are highlighted for their importance:
Know the most appropriate pruning season
The time in which the pruning is carried out is very important to guarantee the health of the tree. In general, pruning is generally recommended in winter when the tree is at rest and before new shoots are born in spring. As the tree is the most inactive, the circulation of sap inside is lower, so it will hardly suffer losses due to pruning cuts. Pruning can also be carried out at the end of spring when it has finished its growth stage before summer.
Other experts recommend fall for tree trimming, especially for fruit trees. This is so because the quality of the shoots is enhanced in the next fruit season and also the growth of the glass is delayed in a little productive time. Autumn pruning can also help increase light absorption inside the tree, something that favors its internal activity.
Use quality pruning tools
Once the time of year has been chosen to perform the pruning, it is necessary to collect the most recommended tools to perform a professional and quality pruning. The cuts must be clean to favor the healing of the tree in the cut areas, thus avoiding the appearance of diseases. For this, the use of pruning shears is necessary, since they are more manageable than a handsaw and can also be used with one or two hands depending on the preference.
The scissors usually have a blade to cut and another blade that serves as a support and the cuts are made quickly and cleanly, better than with any other alternative. In addition to the pruning shears, it may be necessary to use saws or handsaws for thicker or harder areas or gardener's knives to finish precisely in areas that are difficult to access with the scissors.
Choosing a pruning technique
Once the time of year has been chosen and the necessary tools have been collected, all that remains is to choose a pruning technique, something that can be learned from a tutorial. In any case, there are some basic tips regardless of the pruning technique chosen, such as making cuts at the base of the tree branch but above the neck, or cutting at least 5 mm from the buds.
The best known pruning techniques are formation pruning, which is carried out in the first years of the tree's life; maintenance pruning, ideal for removing dry branches or for clearing the tree canopy; or topping pruning, a technique used to remove a good number of tree branches even near the main trunk in order for the tree to regain vigor and grow upwards and not sideways with new branches.
As you can see, it is necessary to be very clear about what type of pruning to perform, what tools should be used, how to cut branches or what times of the year are the most recommended for pruning. The result is usually a healthier tree with much more vigorous and attractive growth.