Pruning trees is about so much more than just making your tree look good (although that’s an obvious benefit too, between you and me). Tree trimming can transform your tree, helping young trees grow stronger, and keeping older trees in the best health possible.
But it’s hard work, and there’s no denying that.
Tree professionals are on hand to help with tree pruning services if you really are struggling, but hopefully throughout the post today you’ll see that proper pruning is not only important but pretty easy to do yourself with the right tools (check out some of the other posts around here for more information about the right tools for the job).
So, just what makes a tree pruning important, and how might it help you transform your garden at home?
How Much Pruning Is Too Much Pruning?
Believe it or not, there is such a thing as too much pruning.
The pruning process is a fairly forgiving one, for the most part. But if you’re hacking away at your trees every other week, then they’re going to start feeling it, and that tree growth you hoped to see just won’t happen.
Why? Because your tree branches will start to feel attacked, and all your tree energy will be pushed toward keeping its surviving limbs healthy and intact. It’s the same as having dead or diseased branches (another big no-no) because it means your tree is focusing its resources in the wrong area.
Regular pruning is necessary, but tree care means you should ONLY prune your trees for good reason – and ‘for aesthetic purposes’ is pretty low down that list.
By following the advice in today’s post, though, you’ll be able to decide when pruning a tree is the best course of action. And remember, each tree is different. If you’re concerned your beloved tree won’t be able to take it, talk to a gardening specialist for more info before you get to work.
If you’re looking for a reason to get started on tree pruning, though, then here are a few good ones!
Check out: How To Fix An Over-Pruned Tree
How Pruning Trees Can Help You
Pruning Fruit Trees
A fruit tree will need to undergo proper pruning from time to time for a number of important reasons. The first, and most obvious, is fruit production.
Your fruit trees need to be pruned to encourage healthy growth and healthy production. A tree produces more fruit after you have pruned it before the growing season starts. Dead or diseased branches, branches with leaf disease, or broken branches won’t aid with fruit production.
To increase your yield, you’ll need to prune – but each fruit tree is different. Make sure you research your specific fruit trees for guidance about how to care for them properly. You don’t ever want to prune your trees at the wrong time of year (winter and fall are usually best, summer and spring usually pose more of a risk), or it may have the opposite effect and hamper production.
Check out: When Is The Best Time To Prune Trees In The UK
Proper Pruning Improves Tree Health
In the same vein, a healthy tree of any kind will be a stronger tree without diseases, and proper pruning will keep a tree healthy.
Broken limbs, damaged limbs, dead branches, and other ailments will almost certainly mean your plants and trees are wasting vital energy on staying healthy. By removing problem limbs, you not only prune the tree but the dead weight, ensuring your tree can grow stronger and healthier.
Increased Safety
Sometimes trees pose a safety risk, and these safety risks can only be dealt with by tree pruning.
If your tree is prone to fall branches, or the structural integrity of the tree itself is posing a risk, then for safety reasons, pruning your tree might be the best course of action. Even lower branches can pose a safety risk if it has a branch in a particularly problematic area that people can run into.
Power lines are also a concern. If your tree’s height is tall enough to reach the power lines near your house, then making sure you carry out tree pruning (usually with a company offering tree pruning services when power lines are involved) is a great idea. It means you can be confident that your trees and branches won’t impede you and your property in the future.
Check out: Best Tools To Cut Tree Branches
Practical Reasons
Sometimes the best reason for tree trimming is to improve traffic around your garden. When you first planted the tree, you probably didn’t think too long or hard about where it went. So long as it got enough sunlight, that’s usually all that matters.
And that’s fine when your tree is no bigger than a plant or shrubs, but as it grows, it can start to ruin your landscape, and it might make navigating your garden trickier.
To improve pedestrian flow around your space, you might just need to prune it a little to cut it back and make your space works for you.
Encouraging Fresh Growth
Yes, pruning your tree will deal with those broken limbs, and damaged lower branches, and take care of diseases so your tree can go back to good health, but good health also means fresh growth.
Sometimes cutting back the old problems is the best way to improve your tree, helping change the direction of growth for practical reasons, or ensuring any diseased or dead branch is cut away to encourage new, healthy growth.
Check out: Best Tool For Cutting Small Trees
Aesthetic Appeal
OK, so we did say pruning for aesthetic purposes isn’t always a sound reason for pruning a tree, but sometimes it is worth it.
New growth not only means a healthier tree, but it also means a better-looking one, too. Since it’s getting multiple benefits from the pruning, we’re fairly confident it’s OK to cut it back once in a while to make it prettier, right? RIGHT?
Fixing Storm Damage
A heavy storm or harsh winds are great at ruining trees and other plants, and sometimes the only thing you can do after the storm has blown through to improve things is pruning.
Cut back the old, bent, or damaged limbs and branches, and make sure nothing is left behind that could fall later. That way, your tree is safer to be around, but it also improves tree care and health, too.
Reduce Pests
Pruning a tree can also reduce pests around your home. Pigeons are an obvious one, but just like when you cut your grass, pruning your trees can be a great idea for keeping away common pests that might be leaving droppings in the area or causing a nuisance or damage.
Trees that are overgrown are just perfect for pests like squirrels, pigeons, and even rats to hang around in.
Whilst we aren’t saying you should keep everything pruned, your property does still need to be protected whilst keeping a suitable environment for nature and wildlife.
Use your common sense here and ALWAYS contact the professionals if you have a pest problem. Businesses can take care of it for you without risking harming the animals.
For The Sake Of Your Garden
Sometimes pruning a tree is the only thing you can do for the rest of your garden too. Other plants and shrubs might not be getting the light or water they need because of the large tree canopy overhead. If that’s the case, pruning will help the rest of your garden flourish, too.
We all love trees, but pruning is an essential part of tree care to ensure your whole garden benefits from sunlight and water.
Final Thoughts On Tree Pruning
Tree pruning is essential for a number of reasons. A well-pruned tree will be stronger, healthier, and safer to be around. It’ll reduce risks, help your garden flow better, and benefit everything from the other plants and shrubs to the wildlife in your local area.
So, why is tree pruning so important?
Because it affects your garden space. Now all you need to know is how to do it…
