Knowing the best solution to ensure a tree’s long life and health is vital for every tree owner. Trees Down Under, the leading arborists at Sydney’s Northern Suburbs, utilises different methods in tree pruning, tailored for every tree type and season.
Here are the most common methods used in tree pruning to help you determine the best option for your trees. Each process has a customised approach that will greatly impact your tree’s health and lush over time.
Cleaning
Cleaning is one of the methods that all tree owners must learn. This straightforward pruning practice cuts/remove dead, diseased, and aesthetically unpleasant limbs or foliage to give the tree a polished look.
Most importantly, pruning unwanted branches will significantly stop the spread of diseases and infection in trees. This is particularly easy for small and minor branches. For larger limbs, however, only prune them when infection and transmission are the lowest since open wounds act as access points to fungi and bacteria.
Thinning
Commonly done on dense trees, canopy thinning removes overgrown branches to enhance air circulation and sunlight. A lush garden needs an ample amount of natural light to help thin foliage and flowers to grow.
Furthermore, thinning should only eliminate around 20%-30% of foliage on the tree and should only cut branches that are about five centimetres in diameter. If done correctly, this should open up the foliage and eliminate excess weight from limbs ‒ giving the tree a more natural shape.
Reduction
For many reasons, you want to reduce your tree’s height or width. This can also be done by pruning them using a method called reduction.
The reduction focuses on the careful cutting of stems that may need to be removed for several reasons. This is different from topping, which arborists do not recommend. When you top trees, you remove the major branches or trunks. This causes large wounds that take time to heal, leaving them open to decay.
Trees Down Under utilises reduction method to shorten and remove branches that are inching towards households, roofings, and utility lines. These branches pose serious risks to people and property and should be removed properly.
Reduction needs in-depth knowledge about a tree’s growth behaviour and which branches need to be pruned. Arborists from Trees Down Under can keep your tree’s natural form while making necessary cuts to keep it healthy and manageable.
Raising
Raising is a type of reduction prune that removes the lower branches of a tree to elevate its crown. This is mostly utilised to give higher clearance for pedestrians, vehicles, establishments, and viewing points or vistas.
This particular method is commonly applied to accommodate more urban environments. Particularly when tree limbs cause an obstruction in public areas like parks and sidewalks, where people and small structures are present.
Raising a canopy should be done regularly for younger trees to avoid leaving wounds or marks as it fully grows. Preferably, raising your tree to give clearance must be around 3 to 4 ½ metres.
Structural Pruning
Trees that grow in an urban environment grows differently than its natural setting. This is because the cityscape allows for more light to a tree than the forest. This makes structural pruning effective since trees highlight your lush garden and they level up the aesthetics of every landscape.
Structural pruning is mostly overlooked by many arborists and tree owners. Aside from cleaning dead and weak branches, you should maintain proper structural growth for your tree while it is young. This will help improve its health and strength, so it could withstand strong gusts of wind and become effective in storm damage prevention.
Structural pruning involves several steps including:
- Identifying the major limbs and branches
- Determining branches that compete with the main limbs
- Trimming or removing the branches
Conclusion
Trees have specific behaviours and needs, and it is the job of any tree owner and tree-care professionals to prune them appropriately. If you are doubtful of your skills or just don’t have the time to prune your trees, Trees Down Under always got your back.
Our expert arborists can prune all types of trees in many ways, promoting light and wind filtration to enhance the lush of your landscape. We also thin out foliage to increase visibility, shape hedges or shrubs to your desire and avoid overgrowth, which will potentially damage your property or someone else’s.
Call us at 0475 463 597, or email us at info@treesdownunder.com.au, for a free quote. Let us help you elevate your garden, anywhere you are within Sydney’s Northern Suburbs.
