Three tips for pruning

By Brighton West

On my bike ride to work, I saw that this tree had been pruned over the weekend.

This is pruning season for most trees, so the pruner chose the proper time of the year to prune.

But a little knowledge and the same amount of effort would lead to a happy, healthy tree.

1) Stub cuts. When pruning, the branch should be pruned back to the branch collar–nearly at the trunk.

2) Two leaders. This person pruned a lot of the tree but didn’t remove the double leader. When you have two trunks, they just compete with each other and if left to grow, they’ll just grow into each other until one breaks off. And it’s gonna be big when that finally happens.

3) Tearing off bark. Using the three-cut method when pruning large limbs will stop the bark from tearing off below the cut. The bark is the living tissue and protects the wood inside from rotting. It’s important that it remain on the tree.

Keep watching our blog for pruning tips so you can keep your tree healthy. Or hire an ISA certified arborist, like these who support Friends of Trees.

–West is Program Director for Friends of Trees.