Common Questions About Tree Pruning

tree care

If you have trees growing on your property, you know that one of the most important maintenance routines is pruning. Below are some common questions and answers regarding pruning techniques for your Lafayette tree service.

Is Pruning Important For My Trees?

Yes. You need to regularly prune the trees on your property to keep them healthy and looking their best. Pruning when the trees are younger ensures they gain a sturdy structure. Also, removing ailing branches allows the remaining limbs to get more energy and grow stronger. When pruning your trees, you make them more visually appealing, and also reduce the potential hazards they pose to people and property.

When Should I Have My Trees Pruned?

It’s often best to schedule a pruning service in winter when there’s less risk of insects or infection. Trees have time to recover before all that spring growth. It’s also easier to identify dead branches during winter than in other seasons. This is because many trees lose their leaves. Although, you can still prune other times of the year, especially if your trees have begun to look a bit shabby. In spring, tree bark is usually softer. That can make tree care easier. You do have to be careful, though, because you could easily damage the new branches.

How Frequently Should I Have My Trees Pruned?

Tree pruning should be done at least once every year. However, you can schedule Lafayette tree services more often if your trees need them. Arborists are able to determine if special circumstances require pruning, such as a tree branch rotting, or new construction that’s obstructed by tree growth.

Are There Specific Pruning Techniques I Should Use?

While tree pruning may seem easy, it requires expert knowledge and a refined skill set. The best way to guarantee proper tree care is to hire experts to handle the process. Alternatively, you can study up to learn the appropriate techniques and prune them yourself. They include:

Hazard Reduction Pruning

This is done on larger branches that pose a danger. It should be handled carefully to guarantee safety.

Maintenance Pruning

This technique is used to remove dead branches or branches that are infected. The goal is to allow the tree to continue growing properly, without hindrance from the affected branches.

Related Content: 3 Tools for Tree Pruning

Crown Raising

You remove the lower hanging branches to increase the aesthetic appeal of the tree.

Vista Pruning

Allows removal of tree limbs without damaging the tree. Vista pruning removes branches that block a beautiful view.

Should I Treat Pruning Wounds?

You shouldn’t add any product to the surface of the tree, as it could cause decay. Make sure you make a clean pruning cut that will allow natural healing.

Related Content: The Dangers of Improper Tree Pruning

Why Hire a Professional Tree Company?

Tree companies have the knowledge and experience you need to guarantee clean cuts and proper healing. A Lafayette tree service will also have the equipment and insurance to cover any accidents on the job.

Lafayette Tree Service

When you need tree care in the Bay Area, contact us at Sexy Trees by calling (925) 233-6877.

How Often Should I Prune My Trees?

Tree Service Alamo

 

Most people in the East Bay should be pruning their trees between November and March. But how often should I prune my trees? Is it an annual tradition? What is best for my tree to ensure it grows and isn’t damaged? While it’s always best to speak to our certified arborist, the following are some basic guidelines that individuals should follow when determining pruning schedules:

Type of Tree

One of the key factors is the type of tree involved. Each tree type will react differently. For instance, fruit trees are generally pruned annually. On the other hand, oak trees should be trimmed every 2-3 years. Additionally, the tree type can also determine the ideal time to prune your tree. Thus, knowing your tree type is essential in determining the pruning schedule.

Age of the Tree

In addition to the tree type, the age of the tree also impacts how often you should prune it. Younger trees are usually pruned more often than older trees. If you had to find an average, most younger trees should be pruned every 2-3 years while older trees are trimmed every 3-5 years. This allows younger trees to flourish while helping to maintain established structures.

Tree Condition

The condition of a tree can dramatically affect the pruning timeframe as well. If a tree has a broken branch or loose/unstable areas, the tree may require trimming, even if it’s not “time”. Alternatively, if a younger tree is having trouble establishing its roots, it maybe recommended that the tree not be pruned as frequently for now.

Thus, if you are wanting to get your trees pruned or evaluated for trimming in the Bay Area, contact us. Sexy Trees has a certified arborist with years of experience.

Can Pruning A Tree Help To Slow Its Growth?

Alamo Tree Removal

Keeping trees and shrubs in good condition involves regular tree care and pruning to maintain their health, and to keep them under control. Tree pruning helps to conserve a tree’s energy, manage its size and change its shape. But can pruning a tree actually change a tree’s growth?

Benefits of Tree Pruning

Tree pruning can help to keep your trees neat and tidy and is an essential service that can be offered by a qualified arborist. Pruning can remove dead or diseased branches, thin canopies, change the shape of tree canopies and improve fruit crop. Having your trees trimmed regularly is essential for optimum tree health.

Pruning Effect on Canopy Growth

Pruning both immediately changes the characteristics of the canopy and impacts growth within the canopy. Because the leaves are the energy and food producing centers of a tree, pruning live tissues will always have an impact on growth. However, pruning dead tissues and branches simply clears them away, without impacting growth.

Skillful pruning by an experienced arborist can help to control the size and shape of your canopy. The more that outer growth and primary branches are pruned back, the more growth will be concentrated on smaller branches close to the tree. This can produce tight dense canopies. For optimal tree health, canopies that allow sunlight and air to filter through can be more beneficial. By pruning marginal branches and leaving active leader branches, your arborist can help you promote trees with healthy growth along the strongest branches, resulting in a large and dispersed canopy.

Pruning Effect on Root Growth

Any pruning of living tissue will affect root growth to some extent. Pruning back active branches diminishes a tree’s ability to produce food, so there will be less root growth. Care should be taken not to ‘top’ trees when pruning to reduce root growth, as this can eliminate any opportunity for the tree to produce food, resulting in tree death.

While pruning may help to slow root growth, it shouldn’t be counted on as a way to control root growth. If you require the trees in your garden to have non-invasive root systems, it’s better to choose tree and shrub varieties that have non-invasive roots naturally.

Pruning Effect on Fruit Growth

Pruning trees skillfully can actually help to produce larger fruit in a greater quantity. Pruning trees in late winter, removing small secondary branches, can help to focus resources and energy on the major branches that will bear fruit. Fruit can grow larger, and in greater amounts, when energy is being diverted directly into fruit production rather than generating new leaves or branches in spring or summer. However, pruning trees to promote fruit growth is a careful process that requires skill to execute correctly. Talk to your local arborist about pruning your fruit tree to yield a bumper crop.

Skillful pruning can change the way your tree grows in many ways, but unskillful pruning can damage or even kill your tree. Call a professional arborist for efficient, safe and beneficial pruning, for your trees best health and optimal growth.

4 Steps To Reviving A Topped Tree

Tree Care Pleasant Hill

A topped tree can be the result of unskillful or over zealous pruning. Topping a tree is when the topmost, healthy, leading branches are chopped off the tree to provide a quick and lazy pruning solution. While tree topping is best avoided in favor of careful and dedicated pruning by your local arborist, if you do have a topped tree, all is not lost. From this point it is critical to seek professional tree care and allow your tree time to heal and regrow if you want to see it thrive again.

Call A Local Arborist

A topped tree needs extra TLC, and your local arborist is the tree professional who can offer it. An arborist can help identify where your tree pruning went wrong, and identify a plan to nurse your topped tree back to health.

Topped trees are weak and unstable and prone to decline, but with the care of your local arborist you can identify the care and corrective pruning your tree needs to flourish again.

Give Your Tree Time

One of the most important things a topped tree needs is time. A topped tree has lost its prime energy and fuel producing leaf growth, and needs time and specialized care to regenerate this growth.

However, you may be happily surprised at how quickly your topped tree starts to put forth new growth. These fresh new branches are called water sprouts, and they need time to establish themselves. Avoid tampering with these sprouts until they have grown to the original height of the tree, as this is a sign the sprouts have established themselves.

Protect Strong Sprouts

The strongest of these initial sprouts are called the leaders. The leaders are the dominant branches that should be the tallest and free from any damage, cracks or pests. These leader branches will become the strong new branches of the tree, so it’s important to protect them and ensure their growth and health is promoted.

Trim Sprouts

In the initial stages of your topped trees healing, there is limited resources and energy to support the new growth, so the strongest and healthiest branches need to be prioritized. Contact an arborist to come and identify the strongest and weakest branches and appropriately prune the weakest branches in order to allow the strongest branches to flourish.

 

The short sprouts that are stronger and look like they could catch up to the new leader should be left to provide additional volume to the new growth. The new leader sprouts need to be monitored in order to support their healthy growth and to ensure the regeneration of the topped tree. This careful pruning process needs to be repeated over the next 4-6 years in order to facilitate the growth of the new branches. Contact a professional arborist to expertly trim the new branches in order to train them and cultivate new growth without limiting the regeneration of your topped tree.

 

A topped tree can be successfully repaired and returned to it’s former glory, but it does take some extra time, care and attention from you and your local arborist to bring your tree back to full health.

How To Care For Your Christmas Tree (And Your Trees At Christmas!)

Tree Service Walnut Creek

Are you planning on bringing home a real Christmas tree this year for an exciting addition to your holiday celebrations? Providing proper care for your fresh cut Christmas tree ensures that it lasts throughout the holiday season and continues to bring joy to your friends, family and guests. When you cut and pick up your tree, more than half of it’s weight is water, so with special tree care and management you can promote the longevity and beauty of your tree. At the same time, as we come into winter, it’s important to also keep in mind the trees in your own backyard, and how they should be best cared for during the holiday season.

At The Tree Lot or Farm
If you want to ensure your tree lasts right through the holiday, it’s important to begin with careful selection when you are buying your tree. Give you tree a quick shake to check that the tree doesn’t drop too many needles, and inspect the tree for brown areas and dryness. Wrap your tree in plastic or a net for the drive home to preserve and protect the branches.

Setting Up Your Tree
Of course, everyone wants to decorate the tree as soon as you bring it home, but it’s important to prepare and set up your tree so it stays fresh and healthy. If your tree was freshly cut when you bought it, you can bring it home and place it immediately in a bucket of water. If your tree was bought pre-cut, it’s necessary to cut an additional inch off the bottom of the trunk before placing in water. Cutting your tree trunk flat is more effective for water absorption than drilling holes.

Water, Water, Water
Arborists and tree experts agree that the most important part of Christmas tree care is ensuring your tree has enough water. You should provide one quart of water for every inch of tree trunk diameter and check the water level everyday. It’s quite normal for a tree to absorb a large amount of water one day and just a little the next. Keeping your tree adequately watered is key to preventing it drying out and dropping needles by the end of December. The temperature of the water is not important and nothing needs to be added to the water either to maintain tree health.

Tree Care at Christmas
It’s also important to care for the other trees in your garden in the cooler holiday season. Call your local arborist for some expert help or advice for the trees and shrubs in your yard, to ensure they stay in perfect health throughout December. Having your local arbborist deliver fresh mulch can help to protect the roots and keep your trees healthy through winter. If there doesn’t seem to be a lot of rainfall during winter, make sure you water your trees and shrubs deeply a few times a week to prevent them drying out.

Taking good care of your Christmas tree during the holiday season helps to ensure the festive cheer this special addition brings can last even longer. It’s also ideal to use this opportunity to take care of the trees in your yard as well, and with professional advice from a qualified arborist you can support and nourish your garden to thrive in the new year.

Moraga Tree Removal

Danville Tree Removal

Check out this great video that shows a tree being removed in Moraga, CA.