Care and Pruning of Trees |
Reasons for Pruning The main reasons for pruning ornamental and shade trees is safety, health, and aesthetics. In addition, pruning can be used to stimulate fruit production and increase the value of timber.
Safety- For safety reasons, the branches need to be removed before they fall and cause injury or property damage. Trimming branches that interfere with lines of sight on streets or driveways, and removing branches that grow into utility lines are a few ways to take safety precautions. Also, you can solve the safety problem by planting trees that are suited to the site, so that they can't overgrow the space given.
Health- For health reasons, it would be advisable to remove diseased or insect-infested wood from trees so that they will grow strong. Thinning the crown to increase airflow, reduce some pest problems, and removing crossing and rubbing branches is also advisable for maintaining the good health of your trees. Pruning can best be used to encourage trees to develop a strong structure and reduce the likelihood of damage during severe weather. Removing broken or damaged limbs encourage wound closure.
Aesthetics- Involves enhancing the natural form and character of your trees or stimulating of your flower production. Pruning for form can be very important on open-grown trees. The reason is that they usually do not get a lot of self-pruning.
1. All woody plants shed foliage in response to shading, competition, and weather. Branches that don't produce enough carbohydrates from photosynthesis die. Because of such things happening to trees, large wounds that rarely heal are produced. With pruning as a cultural practice, we can increase the strength and longevity of plants.
2. In pruning it is important to consider a trees form. The reason for doing so, is that you do not want to prune a tree to a form that is not its natural form. It is a good thing to try to avoid two types of unnatural pruning. Pollarding is the practice of pruning trees annually to remove all new growth. Topiary which involves pruning trees and shrubs into geometric or animal shapes.
Producing strong structure should be the emphasis when pruning young trees. As they mature, the aim of pruning will change to maintaining tree structure, form, health, and appearance.
Common types of pruning:
Crown thinning is primarily for hard-wooded trees. Crown thinning is a selective removal of branches to increase light penetration and air movement throughout the crown of a tree. The purpose is to maintain and develop a tree's structure and form. To prevent over growth of epicormic sprouts, only one quarter of a crown should be done in a successive year.
Branches with U-shaped angles of attachment should be left in place, while V-shaped should be removed. V-shaped attachments form with included bark. Included bark forms where v-shaped branches attach, which produces a wedge of inward-rolling bark. This causes week attachment of v-shaped branches and may cause cracks to form. Co-dominant stems often form included bark. Removing some of the lateral branches from co-dominant branches may allow other stems to become dominant.
Lateral branches should be no more than 1/2 to 3/4 of the diameter of the stem at the point of attachment. Please avoid tufts of branches and foliage, because they can cause sun scalding, abundant epicormic sprouts, and weak branch structure and breakage.
Crown raising is the practice of removing branches from the bottom crown of the tree to provide clearance. On young trees, "temporary" branches may be retained along the stem to encourage taper and to protect trees from vandalism and sun scald. They should be pruned annually to slow their growth.
Crown reduction pruning is most often used when a tree has grown too large for its permitted space. This process called drop crotch pruning is a more natural appearance, increase the time before pruning, and minimizes stress. Crown reduction pruning may lead to wounds on stems that may cause decay.
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