Decorative trees like Weeping Cherries, Flowering Dogwoods
and Flowering Crab apples send branches in different directions, so it is a
great idea to prune the branches. In the same way, pruning fruit trees is done
to keep your trees healthy and easy to work in while pruning and collecting a
plentiful harvest of large fruit.
In this blog, we would guide you about the basic aspects of tree pruning in CA.
Best Season for
Pruning
According to expert arborists, Winter is a perfect time to
do some pruning, specifically when the temperature levels are around 30
degrees. We do not suggest pruning when the temperature level is listed below
freezing since the wood gets brittle at that time and will shatter when
cut.
The advantage of winter season pruning is that you can have
a clear concept of what needs to be cut out and what can remain, at least for
deciduous plants. Likewise, inactive plants will be much easier to cut during
winter.
How to Start Properly
First, decide how you want your plant to look and prune.
Stick your head inside the tree and see what can be gotten rid of. This is just
like looking under the hood. You will see several little branches that have
actually not had any sunshine and should best be eliminated. Likewise, any
place you see two branches that are crossing paths, remove them. You must take
these steps before starting proper tree pruning in CA.
As soon as we have cleaned the inside of the plant up, shape
the outside. This is simple — visualize how you want your plant to look,
draw fictional lines in your mind, and cut off anything that is not a part of
your imaginary picture.
Mostly, your plant will have two types of growth: terminal
branches and lateral branches. Every branch will have one terminal bud at the
end, with several lateral branches along the sides. When you cut the terminal
bud, the plant sets several buds, thus making it look good and full. Trimming
your plants will make them look better.
Kinds of pruning cuts
We can divide tree pruning into the following basic types.
• We use Thinning Cuts to eliminate a whole shoot or
branch back to a lateral or scaffolding branch.
• Heading Cuts remove just the terminal portion of a
shoot. This kind of cut promotes the growth of flower buds and many terminal
buds below the cut.
• Big cuts also known as bench cuts get rid of
energetic, upright shoots back to side branches that are external growing.
Bench cuts are utilized to open up the center of the tree. They might also be utilized
to secure extreme scaffolding branches left by improper pruning of young trees.
Careful pruning cuts will assist the tree to heal rapidly.
Pruning cuts ought to be flush with the surrounding branch without leaving
stubs. Likewise, when large horizontal cuts are made, they must be somewhat
angled, so that water does not set on the cut surface, as this will trigger
decaying and disease.
Pruning is easy once you get used to it, offer it a try.
