Last call for Pruning!
The Winter is almost over, so that means spring is here and it’s the best time to prune your trees. There are four reasons why it’s good to prune in the winter. 770-Arborist is here to remind you.
The number one reason to prune in the winter is because there are less bugs in this time. Bugs aren’t quite out yet.
The number two reason is because pruning right now gives enough time for the cuts to dry. Dry cuts don’t attract bugs. .
Number three is that trees are already starting to produce leaves. You want to avoid a tree, especially a large tree, at this time of the year, to produce a lot of leaves to do photosynthesis. Because the tree is drawing from its internal nutrient storage, drawing out of the ground, drawing out for the trunk, pushing out leaves to create photosynthesis to add back to its nutrients. The last thing you want to do is to cut that off right after it spends the energy. This is important to take notice because trees have three life stages they start vigorous, then they fall in a maintenance stage and then decline. Improper pruning of a tree at a maintenance stage can accelerate its decline. So, you have to prune trees at the proper time to help them grow naturally into their growth stages.
The fourth and last reason to prune in the winter is because that way, you push the tree to heal the wounds.
The two following pictures show cuts made this year.
These cuts have not healed completely.
The following picture shows a cut made two years ago:
You can see that the tree has spent energy starting to close and compartmentalize these wounds.
So, you want to make those cuts at a point that when the tree pushes, it’s closing the wounds and spending that energy to compartmentalize that decay. This will help to keep the tree as healthy as possible and give it every fighting chance.
If you have any questions, feel free to call us at 770-Arborist. We want to get your trees pruned right at the end.
