Pruning Practices

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Pruning Practices

• A guide for landscape pruning

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What is pruning?

• Methodical removal of plant parts with the object
  of
• Improving plant form
• Improve growth
• Improve health

• With least damage to cambium so that the wound
  heals properly in shortest period of time with
  the least possibility of wound infection

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Cambium

• The area below the bark that transports water,
  nutrients and food reserves

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Trunk/branches

• The main stem of the tree
• Yearly layers/rings give structural support
• Layer below bark transports water and nutrients

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Leaves

• Food factories
• Convert light to food reserves through
  photosynthesis

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How to Prune Deciduous Trees

• Why prune
• What to prune
• When to prune
• Where to prune

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Why prune young trees ?

• Trained trees will be structurally strong and
  have a lower failure potential than untrained
  trees.
• Trained trees will be easier and less costly to
  maintain than untrained trees
• Trained trees have a greater potential to be
  longer lived than untrained trees

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Natural tree forms
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Pruning

• When to prune trees?
• Ideal time to prune is during the dormant season
  before new growth starts.
• Winter or early spring structural problems are
  visible
• Spring and summer dieback is evident
• Fall only to repair storm damage wounds heal
  slowly and may be prone to disease

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Pruning young trees

• Remove competing leader
• Select radiating scaffold branches
• Select wide branch angles

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Scaffold branches

• Spaced minimum 12 apart
• Radiate around the tree
• Best 1/3 size of trunk
• No more than 2 at any point

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Branch Angles.Wide
Narrow
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Narrow branches split out
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Temporary branches

• Branches low on trunk feed trunk and improve
  taper and wind resistance
• Keep in ratio of 1/3 trunk 2/3 branches

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Prune Yearly
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Dont over prune

• 1/3 2/3 rule
• Remember leaves are solar collectors for food
  storage

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Balance windblown trees

• Reduce length of north growing branches
• Start when young
• Balance trees throughout their lifetime

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Remove suckers/water sprouts

• Start when young
• Continue through life of tree
• Waterspouts often follow heaving dormant pruning

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Where to prune.

• Above outward growing buds
• ¼ inch above bud
• Cut back to main branch on thick growth

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Pruning

• Cuts should be back to a vigorous side shoot
• Whenever tips are removed, lower buds are
  stimulated to grow

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Too Much, Too Little, Just Right
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Thinning

• Allows more light to plants below
• Better air movement, lessens diseases
• Reduces crow roosting
• May need to be done yearly

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Pruning large trees.

• Prune to natural shape
• Drop crotch pruning prune down to next main
  branch throughout tree to reduce tree size

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• Maintenance pruning
• Dead or diseased branches
• Water sprouts growing near the base of the tree
  trunk or in the tree
• Branches that cross which causes rubbing and
  consequent damage to the bark
• Narrow V crotches should be eliminated
• Branches that are likely to interfere with
  telephone or electric wires
• Prune branches to increase air flow
• Remove damaged or unsightly branches

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Too Big?

• Trees dont get too large.
• Sometimes we planted wrong tree for the site.
• Replacement with smaller species may be best
  long-term option

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Power Lines
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Science and art of pruning
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Avoid topping!

• Regrowth from topped trees is weak and more
  susceptible to storm breakage
• Reduces lifespan of tree
• May be only option following disaster (tornado)
  until new trees are established

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Pruning

• NEVER allow topping, stubbing, or heading back

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Branch Collar

• a swelling at the branch union from the
  yearly addition of tissues to the branch and
  trunk.

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Where to prune The Branch Collar

• Three point cut
• Undercut
• Stub cut
• Final cut at branch collar

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Tree waltz 1-2-3,1-2-3, 1-2-3
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Compartmentalization of wounds

• New cambium growth heals over old wounds
• New wounds are potential entry points for fungi
• Try to not intentionally wound the tree

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• Tree wound treatments
• Not necessary or beneficial to the tree
• Wound shaping, trimming are not effective
• Brushed on dressings or paint are only for
  appearance
• Healing is related to diameter growth keep the
  tree vigorous and the wound will heal more
  quickly

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Treating wounds.

• Leave open to air to dry out
• Avoid using pruning paints unless water may enter
  wound on a flat surface

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Cabling large trees.
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Pruning Tools

• Pinching
• Hand bypass pruners
• Loppers
• Handsaw
• Chainsaw

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Pinching

• Rubbing out undesired buds or tips on new growth
  when training young trees

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Bypass pruner..

• Good for small branches when training young trees
  and shrubs.
• Bypass pruners give a clean cut
• Anvil pruners can crush cambium on new growth

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Bypass lopper

• Used on branches up to 1 ½ inch diameter
• Less cambium damage with bypass type
• Extension handles allow for getting to base of
  thorny shrubs and higher into trees

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Hand pruning saw.

• Cuts on pull stroke
• Great when training larger young trees

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Chainsaw..

• Quickly cuts larger branches
• Think safety!

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Prunings/brush as a resource

• Can be turned into woodchip mulch
• Best to compost for a few months
• May be recycled at commercial processing companies

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Pruning evergreen trees

• Pines, juniper, spruce, arborvitae often look
  best at natural shape
• Prune dead branches, individual branches to
  achieve desired form
• Do not prune beyond green zone

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Pruning

• When to prune evergreens?
• Pines
• Usually not necessary unless you want to improve
  the denseness
• Prune candles to ½ length after it is fully
  grown late spring
• Spruce
• Cut back 1 year old shoots to one of the lateral
  side buds or branches in early spring before new
  growth begins
• Junipers or arborvitae
• During early spring, prune branches back to a
  side branch
• Inner dead zones do not make pruning cuts into
  this zone new growth will only develop from
  green twigs

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Evergreen
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Single dead branch
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Pruning shrubs...

• Prune for natural form

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Reasons to prune

• Rejuvenate shrubs
• Improve shape
• Remove dead
• Improve aesthetics
• Improve health

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Rejuvenation pruning thinning

• Thinning multi-stemmed shrubs

• Remove largest, oldest stems as close to the
  ground as possible.
• Remove 1/3 of plant each year to keep plant young
  and vigorous.

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Heading back

• Used to reduce size of plant
• Selective removal of shoots down in the plant
  where they meet another branch
• Usually done late fall to mid-July

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• Rejuvenation

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Shearing.

• Used in formal designs
• Narrow tops and wide bottom gives best light
  penetration
• Often results in thick, dense growth with little
  depth of foliage
• Light pruning any time
• Heavy pruning early spring til mid-July

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Spring flowering shrubs

• Prune following bloom

• white spirea
• forsythia
• flowering quince
• lilac

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Summer flowering shrubs

• Bloom on current season growth
• Prune in early spring

• shrub rose
• pink spirea
• rose of sharon
• butterfly bush
• crape myrtle

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Foliage shrubs

• Shrubs grown primarily for foliage should be
  pruned in spring before growth begins

• junipers
• mahonia
• sumac
• burning bush
• ninebark
• barberry

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Prune to prevent insect problems

• Ash-lilac borers attack oldest branches
• Lilac remove oldest canes each year

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Pruning

• When to prune evergreens?
• Pines
• Usually not necessary unless you want to improve
  the denseness
• Prune candles to ½ length after it is fully
  grown late spring
• Spruce
• Cut back 1 year old shoots to one of the lateral
  side buds or branches in early spring before new
  growth begins
• Junipers or arborvitae
• During early spring, prune branches back to a
  side branch
• Inner dead zones do not make pruning cuts into
  this zone new growth will only develop from
  green twigs

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Yews/Taxus.

• Though evergreen, they can be pruned into the
  brown zone since dormant buds will often grow
  new branches

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Redtwig dogwood

• Grown for bright red branches
• Branches dull after 3 years

• Avoid shearing
• Cut to ground every three years in winter

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Too big?

• Replace with a smaller maturing plant
• Saves maintenance
• Allows for natural growth vs. sheared

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Grafted plants

• Prune any shoots coming from below graft

• roses
• weeping mulberry
• weeping crabapples

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Situation Fruit Trees

• Thinning, not heading back
• Yearly
• Light to the center of tree improves coloring and
  reduces disease
• Increases penetration of pest control products

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To prune or not to prune.
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Situation

• What is natural shape
• Remove suckers at base
• Remove competing leader
• Remove competition with lighting

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Double leader..

• What would you do?

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• Prepared by
• Bob Neier
• Sedgwick County Extension Agent Horticulture
• August, 2005