• In our climate, it is best to avoid any elective pruning from August until we have had a hard frost. The natural response to pruning is growth, and new growth initiated late in the growing season will not be winter hardy.
• Use sharp, clean tools to insure good cuts and limit disease transmission. If disease is suspected, clean your tools with 5% bleach solution between cuts. Bleach is corrosive, so rinse and oil your tools when you finish.
• Choose the right size tool for the job. If you have to strain to make a cut with a pruner, then the pruner is too small for the job, resulting in ragged cuts and possible damage to the pruner.
• Pruning without a good reason may do more harm than good.
• If you prune at the proper time, you won't need pruning paint.
• "Bleeding" will not hurt a tree, but it may stain the bark.
• Rejuvenating an overgrown flowering shrub like a lilac is a simple process, but it is done in stages over several years. Most lilacs send up lots of new shoots from the base of the shrub each season. Look at the base of your plant to see if it is suckering (sending up new shoots from below the ground.) Right after it finishes blooming, prune out a quarter to a third of the oldest, woodiest stems as low as you can. You can also lightly prune the tips of the remaining branches. In response, the lilac will send up even more sucker stems. Repeat this process yearly and within a few years you will have a whole new plant that is much more compact and productive.
You may be tempted to just cut it all back to the ground, but this usually results in lots of tall, spindly weak growth that will be very reluctant to bloom for years and susceptible to insects and diseases.
• Avoid removing more than 1/3 of a plant in a season.
• The narrower the angle of a branch, the weaker the crotch.
• When pruning larger branches, undercutting first will help avoid damaging the tree.
• The pruning technique called "Topping" is very harmful to trees. Some progressive cities have passed laws to prevent tree services from using this form of pruning.
• When holding your pruners, the cutting blade should be on the top and the holding blade below.
• Flush cuts can delay healing and allow decay into the tree. Avoid cutting into the branch collar.
• While young trees and shrubs can readily replace tissue that has been pruned out, older trees may not. Avoid thinning branches on older, established trees.
• It helps when pruning to understand a little about buds. Here is a quick overview:
Almost all growth comes from buds. Buds can grow into leaves, branches or flowers.
There are several types of buds: dormant, latent and adventitious. Dormant buds were formed last season for this season growth. Latent buds are there, but remain inactive, like an insurance policy. Adventitious buds are those that quickly form in response to a need, but they aren't "deeply rooted", resulting in weak growth. Buds located at the tips are called terminal buds. Buds located on the sides are called lateral buds.
Terminal buds give off a hormone that suppresses other growth. This is called
Apical Dominance and it organizes the growth of a plant. Pruning off the terminal buds will remove the hormone that delays the lateral growth.
• For many reasons, there may be a time when you need to hire a professional to help care for your trees and shrubs. Before you decide whom to call for help, take a few moments to evaluate the situation. Your landscape plants represent a large investment on your part. Well-cared for, healthy trees and shrubs are an added value to your home and your life. Given the value of your landscape, be careful whom you trust to do the work. There are lots of excellent people in the field. Avoid letting cost be the determining factor; what you save today may cost you tenfold tomorrow. Just as there are large firms with fancy trucks and new equipment that do an excellent job, there are those that don't. There are people who work out of the back of their pickup truck that do a great job, and some you shouldn't let on your property. Be careful. Ask for references and check them out. Drive by and look at work they have done a year or two ago. Ask questions. Don't let anyone tell you that something is too difficult to explain. Will they clean up after themselves, removing all the limbs and brush after the work is completed? How long have they been in business? Are they licensed to apply pesticides? Are they insured for liability and accidents? Don't be afraid to ask and don't hesitate to check out the answers they give you. Remember, what they do cannot be easily undone, so you want it to be what is right and what you want done.
• Have you ever wondered why young evergreens at a nursery always look so different from those growing in nature? Young evergreens in the nursery have been pruned as they grow to produce a strong, symmetrical framework. Their natural shape is often more open and irregular. As the evergreen develops a more natural shape, some thinning may be needed to prevent an awkward stage.
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