Now is the time to Prune!!
Leif’s articles are again appearing in the Northfield News this year! The following article was published in the March 29th issue…
Good pruning of the trees in your landscape is one of the most important things you can do to build and maintain the value and appearance of your real estate. During a period of time when there is downward pressure on housing prices, and a large inventory of homes on the market, having well maintained and beautiful trees could be an important factor in whether or not you receive a reasonable offer for your property.
Many people know that oaks, elms, honeylocusts and fruit trees are best pruned in the winter when the risks of disease transmission are low. With winter slow to make its exit this year, it should be safe to prune these tree varieties up until April 15th - 20th.
Good tree pruning is timely pruning. Prune your trees early and often during the first 10-15 years after planting them. Every other year is a good rule of thumb.
After 15 years, every 3-4 years is advisable. In the early years, most homeowners are able to prune themselves. When trees get fairly large, it’s a good idea to hire a skilled and insured arborist.
Another rule of thumb is to remove a branch that will not be a permanent part of the tree structure before that branch exceeds the size of your thumb. By forcing yourself to prune in this way, the wounds are small and heal quickly.
Very often, we miss opportunities to remove branches when they are small, and as a result the pruning wounds will be larger. Prune anyway. If the branch is too low, poorly attached, damaged or will force other parts of the tree to become poorly shaped, remove it even if a fairly large wound will result.
This sometimes results in a temporary gap or empty area in the structure of the tree. If the branches that remain are well positioned and strongly attached, this awkward looking area of the tree should fill in nicely within two or three years, sometimes as little as one growing season.
Resist the temptation to apply pruning sealants to the pruning wounds. They generally heal faster and better without pruning sealant. I make an exception to this rule if I am forced to prune oaks, elms and honeylocusts during warm weather.
If you prune maple trees during the next 2-3 weeks, don’t worry about the “bleeding” of sap from pruning cuts. It won’t harm the tree, and will stop by the end of April.
When you make a pruning cut, try to leave most of the branch collar intact. The branch collar is the slightly widened part of the branch where it is attached to the stem. Try to leave some collar tissue in place, but leave no obvious stubs. This makes for small wounds that heal very quickly.
Tags: Pruning
