The Importance of Seasonal Pruning

Pruning is one of the most important aspects of tree and shrub maintenance.  The difference between having a healthy and beautiful tree/shrub or one that is unhealthy is knowing when and how to prune.  Pruning is defined as cutting away dead or overgrown branches or stems.  Pruning helps to increase fruitfulness and growth.  The reasons for pruning can be grouped into a few categories: training, maintaining its health and controlling growth. 

When you are trying to train trees it is crucial to remove broken, crisscrossing, and weak branches to build for future growth.  When aiming to maintain plant health it may become necessary to remove diseased/dead wood.  If that is necessary, it is very important that the cut begins in the healthy section of the wood to ensure all of the infection is removed.  As time passes trees and shrubs may outgrow the space they were originally planted to occupy and pruning becomes necessary to maintain an acceptable size and shape.   

When it comes to pruning you have a lot of different tools at your disposal.  Pruning shears are typically best for branches up to ½ inch thick, as anything bigger may damage the shears or result in a bad cut.  The next step up would be a pair of lopping shears, which can typically cut up to 2-inch limbs.  Use of a pole runner is always cautioned as items fall from a decent height and the risk of injury is higher than the previous options.  When you have large shrubs that need to be pruned, an electric pruner would be the most efficient and effective tool for the job.    

The ideal time to prune plants and trees is when they are in their resting period, which is better known as late winter or early spring.  Pruning during this time period allows the plant to heal quickly.  When it comes to shrubs or vines that have their flowers in the spring, it is recommended to prune after their blossom period, as it would allow the maximum time to make new growth for next year.