While you enjoy a good sip of afternoon tea in your backyard, you notice dead branches and dried leaves on your trees. It just doesn’t look good and healthy as it used to be. Maybe it’s time for some tree pruning.
At some point, we have to prune the trees on our property. This is a basic concept when we love to grow and care for one. Tree pruning is essential to maintain the tree’s health, aesthetics, and structure. Otherwise, the tree could be jammed, making it unstable and dangerous.
The answer to whether a tree can die from pruning is that all trees can potentially die due to pruning. Trees may die from pruning if the cuts are too severe or if the tree is already in deteriorating health. However, it’s important to note, proper pruning techniques performed by qualified tree professionals can help maintain the tree’s health and structural integrity.
Pruning is pretty common, especially for tree growers, but it’s a fairly difficult practice. Pruning is not merely trimming or pulling out leaves or removing tree portions. It is getting rid of unwanted, dead, or infested leaves and branches to encourage healthier growth. That being said, improper pruning can do more harm than good.
In this article, we break down the topic of whether trees can die from pruning more in-depth.
The Damage of Improper Pruning
Allowing your tree to grow without pruning (even minor hand pruning) can only lead to more problems. Your trees can grow unhealthily, with unstable structures and ugly canopies. The branches can overgrow and become too heavy, which poses serious risks, not to mention excess leaf clutter in your backyard. What a headache!
Being so, pruning is a must part of tree care. However, pruning can be immensely detrimental if it is done poorly and not within the proper time frame.
Every time you cut a portion of a tree, you open a wound. If you’re not careful and do a lousy job, it’ll only allow pests and infection to penetrate fast, which essentially causes long-term damage.
While we don’t notice it at first (and just hope we did a good — or even just a decent job), poor pruning techniques will allow diseases to spread that’ll slowly kill the tree. When it is already weak and dying, it can most likely collapse in strong winds and cause damage to properties and people nearby.
Even if we’re not trained arborists, we must be aware of common pruning mistakes to save our trees without hurting or damaging them.
Common Mistakes While Pruning
Proper pruning will ensure safer growth in your trees. Who would not want that, right? So, we must turn our backs on the old ways and start learning how to do it properly.
One of the most common mistakes is pruning your tree at the wrong time. There is no simple answer to when is the right time to prune our trees.
However, in general, we have to avoid pruning, specifically during spring when new buds are starting to grow and form — by mistakenly doing so, you can hinder an essential time of their growth.
Another mistake is using the wrong cutting method. Improper cutting can cause bark harm and flakes. Also, flush cuts can damage the trees’ defence mechanism, potentially creating slow healing wounds and callus formation. Moreover, over-pruning will most likely interfere with plant growth and expose it to more diseases. It’s better to prune at appropriate times and only when needed.
Lastly, using improper pruning tools will further hurt a sick tree. Pruning tools, like hand pruners or loppers, should reduce robust and difficult branches without inflicting more damage.
Takeaway
One of the primary goals of pruning trees is to make them prosper. When trees are pruned properly, they won’t die. They will benefit a lot. By getting rid of dead, unwanted branches and leaves; you’ll help the tree have a second (longer) chance to live. But doing it in the wrong way can magnify existing issues.
So, if you don’t have the time or right tools to prune your trees properly, get the pruning done by a professional. Our experts provide professional tree removal in Sydney and are always ready to help bring out your trees’ fullest potential while keeping your backyards green-waste-free
