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Advice On How To Prune

Yards should be a cohesive unit, meaning that every component needs to be thriving. Having a freshly cut and green lawn is a great start, now you need the rest of your landscape to be equally impressive. Therefore, the pruning of your trees and bushes should never be ignored. Pruning involves the removal of those unwanted dead and infected areas, which in turn will keep the tree or shrub prosperous. While it may seem simple to start hacking away at whatever appears out of place, we encourage you to take some of our advice on how to properly prune.

1. First are the basics. Cut anything that appears dead, loose, or even branches that are crossing or stick out as out of character to the rest of the branches. By trimming these off, you are preventing disease from spreading and are also aerating the bush, allowing more room for air and sunlight to get in.

2. Unless you are trimming a hedge bush, avoid making one big flat trim on top. This is actually an unnatural shape for a bush to be in and is harmful to its health. The bush will actually become larger because growth is now extremely focused on the outermost branches. Once this occurs, the size of the bush is very hard to tame. The “flat top” cut will only be a good look temporarily.

3. Make sure to cut all branches at the collar. By collar, we mean as close to where the branch connects to the main trunk as possible. If you leave stubs, they will grow back and can cause disease.

4. Avoid pruning in both the fall and early winter. Pruning trees and bushes at this time can damage the plant and even stunt its growth. Instead, stick to late winter, spring, and summer. The best time to prune is when their buds are beginning to swell. Each tree and brush has different preferred pruning time periods, so be sure to do your research to find out what is best.

5. Make sure your tools are sharp. This will allow you to fully cut off unwanted branches instead of just shredding. As well, you will save you a lot of time, energy, and frustration as well!

6. Be careful about pruning young plants. Make as few cuts as possible when dealing with these, as pruning trees and bushes in these early stages too much can harm their growth.

7. When it comes to trees, make sure to get rid of any water sprouts and root sprouts. These offer no benefit to the trees health and actually use up energy that the rest of the plant could prosper from.

Pruning can be a difficult process, especially to those that are inexperienced. It won’t be perfect every time and can be a bit of a learning process. We feel if you follow these simple guidelines, you will be on your way to gorgeous looking trees and bushes to complete the look of your stunning landscape.