Tips for tree pruning

Tips for tree pruning

There are two types of winter gardening. The first method usually begins in January when gardening catalogs start to arrive in the mail. This type of gardening is as easy as sitting in your favorite chair, flipping through the catalogs and dreaming about what you are going to do this spring or drawing designs for the gardens you plan to work on.

The second type of winter gardening is getting out in the garden and doing some work. Of course, if it's really cold, you'd better wait for a nice day. Winter is a good time to prune if temperatures are around 30 degrees. I do not recommend pruning if it is considerably below freezing because the wood is brittle and will break when you make a cut.

pruning during the winter

        One of the advantages of pruning during the winter is that you can see much better what to cut and what to keep. At least that's true with deciduous plants. The other advantage is that the plants are dormant and you won't mind a little work on them.

Ornamental trees must be pruned to remove competing branches. Weeping cherries, blooming dogwoods, blooming crabapples, etc. It's your job to decide how you want the plant to look and then start pruning to achieve that look.

But first stick your head inside the tree and see what you can remove from there. This is like looking under the hood, and when you do, you will see a lot of small branches that haven't received any sunlight, which certainly don't add anything to the plant. They are simply there and should be removed.

Any branches that grow toward the center of the tree should be cut back, where it will receive little sunlight. Where there are two intersecting branches, one of them must be removed. Once you've cleaned the inside of the plant, you can start shaping the outside.

Shaping the exterior

        Shaping the exterior is quite easy. Just imagine how you want the plant to look and imagine imaginary lines of the finished outline of the plant. Cut everything that is outside these imaginary lines. It is also important to cut off the tips of branches that have not yet reached these imaginary lines to force the plant to fill up.

For the most part, plants have two types of growth: terminal branches and lateral branches. Each branch has a terminal bud at the end and many lateral branches along the sides. Terminal shoots grow in an outward direction away from the plant. If they are not cut, they continue to grow in the same direction and the plant grows tall and very thin. This is why the trees in the forest are so thin and unattractive.

        When you cut a branch from a plant, the plant forms new shoots just below where you cut. When you remove the terminal bud, the plant will form multiple buds; this is how you make a nice, full plant. Do not be afraid to prune your plants, that is why they will be much more beautiful. The more the clippings, the fuller they become.

Many people have a real problem with this. They just don't dare prune. It kills them even to think of pruning a plant like this. Just do it! You will have a beautiful plant for that.

Look at the plant objectively. If you see a branch that looks like it is growing too far in the wrong direction, cut it off. If you make a mistake. Hope this helps you and doesn't get you in trouble with your partner. Many family disputes have started over pruning.