When it comes to tree care, there are two kinds of pruning: the kind you do to a tree because you’re worried about its branches becoming a hazard, and the kind you do because you know that targeted tree services Sydney can improve the tree’s health and longevity. Today, we’re talking about the second type.
When to trim:
Arborists agree that trees with damaged, diseased, pest-infested, or dead branches should be removed as soon as possible. They also point out that if you have the opportunity, there is an optimal time to prune: right at the transition from winter to spring. Before the buds open, the tree experiences a “return to life” boost that allows it to heal injuries faster: This is the best time to do careful pruning.
It is also inconvenient to prune a tree during very hot, very cold, or very dry periods. Heat causes sap to flow faster, and a pruning injury can result in excessive sap loss. Cold, on the other hand, causes sap to flow more slowly and can cause an injury to remain open without a protective sap callus forming over it. During dry periods, the same problem occurs because there simply isn’t enough sap.
How to trim?
When pruning a tree for health reasons, you should cut the branches as close to the base as possible without leaving a stump, but also without removing excess bark from the rest of the tree.
‘Topping’, the indiscriminate cutting of larger branches or the entire tree crown, is never a good idea. If you need to remove a branch fork from a split tree, work from the outside in, cutting back the branches of the branch fork until only the branch fork of the trunk remains, and then cut the branch fork at least a half-inch from the main trunk. This will reduce the risk of creating an extremely large wound that will be difficult to heal and put the tree at risk in the future.
Ideally, when doing this type of pruning, you are not simply cutting branches, but you want to maintain the proportions and shape of the tree while improving its health. Like most things in nature, a tree works best when it is symmetrical and balanced. This is where art comes into play.
Hire a professional for tree services.
If you’re not confident in your ability to properly prune your trees, you should hire an arborist service that can do much more than just remove trees. They have the expertise to prune your tree in a way that improves both the overall health and aesthetics of the tree. And if it turns out that the damage is not limited to just one or two branches as you believed, they can always resort to tree removal.
