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Pruning Practices

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Title: Slide 1 Author: Sedgwick County Extension Last modified by: Chuck Marr Created Date: 10/1/2004 10:05:40 PM Document presentation format: On-screen Show – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Pruning Practices


1
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2
Pruning Practices
  • A guide for landscape pruning

3
What is pruning?
  • Methodical removal of plant parts with the object
    of
  • Improving plant form
  • Improve growth
  • Improve health
  • With least damage to cambium so that the wound
    heals properly in shortest period of time with
    the least possibility of wound infection

4
Cambium
  • The area below the bark that transports water,
    nutrients and food reserves

5
Trunk/branches
  • The main stem of the tree
  • Yearly layers/rings give structural support
  • Layer below bark transports water and nutrients

6
Leaves
  • Food factories
  • Convert light to food reserves through
    photosynthesis

7
How to Prune Deciduous Trees
  • Why prune
  • What to prune
  • When to prune
  • Where to prune

8
Why prune young trees ?
  • Trained trees will be structurally strong and
    have a lower failure potential than untrained
    trees.
  • Trained trees will be easier and less costly to
    maintain than untrained trees
  • Trained trees have a greater potential to be
    longer lived than untrained trees

9
Natural tree forms
10
Pruning
  • When to prune trees?
  • Ideal time to prune is during the dormant season
    before new growth starts.
  • Winter or early spring structural problems are
    visible
  • Spring and summer dieback is evident
  • Fall only to repair storm damage wounds heal
    slowly and may be prone to disease

11
Pruning young trees
  • Remove competing leader
  • Select radiating scaffold branches
  • Select wide branch angles

12
Scaffold branches
  • Spaced minimum 12 apart
  • Radiate around the tree
  • Best 1/3 size of trunk
  • No more than 2 at any point

13
Branch Angles.Wide
Narrow
14
Narrow branches split out
15
Temporary branches
  • Branches low on trunk feed trunk and improve
    taper and wind resistance
  • Keep in ratio of 1/3 trunk 2/3 branches

16
Prune Yearly
17
Dont over prune
  • 1/3 2/3 rule
  • Remember leaves are solar collectors for food
    storage

18
Balance windblown trees
  • Reduce length of north growing branches
  • Start when young
  • Balance trees throughout their lifetime

19
Remove suckers/water sprouts
  • Start when young
  • Continue through life of tree
  • Waterspouts often follow heaving dormant pruning

20
Where to prune.
  • Above outward growing buds
  • ¼ inch above bud
  • Cut back to main branch on thick growth

21
Pruning
  • Cuts should be back to a vigorous side shoot
  • Whenever tips are removed, lower buds are
    stimulated to grow

22
Too Much, Too Little, Just Right
23
Thinning
  • Allows more light to plants below
  • Better air movement, lessens diseases
  • Reduces crow roosting
  • May need to be done yearly

24
Pruning large trees.
  • Prune to natural shape
  • Drop crotch pruning prune down to next main
    branch throughout tree to reduce tree size

25
  • Maintenance pruning
  • Dead or diseased branches
  • Water sprouts growing near the base of the tree
    trunk or in the tree
  • Branches that cross which causes rubbing and
    consequent damage to the bark
  • Narrow V crotches should be eliminated
  • Branches that are likely to interfere with
    telephone or electric wires
  • Prune branches to increase air flow
  • Remove damaged or unsightly branches

26
Too Big?
  • Trees dont get too large.
  • Sometimes we planted wrong tree for the site.
  • Replacement with smaller species may be best
    long-term option

27
Power Lines
28
Science and art of pruning
29
Avoid topping!
  • Regrowth from topped trees is weak and more
    susceptible to storm breakage
  • Reduces lifespan of tree
  • May be only option following disaster (tornado)
    until new trees are established

30
Pruning
  • NEVER allow topping, stubbing, or heading back

31
Branch Collar
  • a swelling at the branch union from the
    yearly addition of tissues to the branch and
    trunk.

32
Where to prune The Branch Collar
  • Three point cut
  • Undercut
  • Stub cut
  • Final cut at branch collar

33
Tree waltz 1-2-3,1-2-3, 1-2-3
34
Compartmentalization of wounds
  • New cambium growth heals over old wounds
  • New wounds are potential entry points for fungi
  • Try to not intentionally wound the tree

35
  • Tree wound treatments
  • Not necessary or beneficial to the tree
  • Wound shaping, trimming are not effective
  • Brushed on dressings or paint are only for
    appearance
  • Healing is related to diameter growth keep the
    tree vigorous and the wound will heal more
    quickly

36
Treating wounds.
  • Leave open to air to dry out
  • Avoid using pruning paints unless water may enter
    wound on a flat surface

37
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Cabling large trees.
39
Pruning Tools
  • Pinching
  • Hand bypass pruners
  • Loppers
  • Handsaw
  • Chainsaw

40
Pinching
  • Rubbing out undesired buds or tips on new growth
    when training young trees

41
Bypass pruner..
  • Good for small branches when training young trees
    and shrubs.
  • Bypass pruners give a clean cut
  • Anvil pruners can crush cambium on new growth

42
Bypass lopper
  • Used on branches up to 1 ½ inch diameter
  • Less cambium damage with bypass type
  • Extension handles allow for getting to base of
    thorny shrubs and higher into trees

43
Hand pruning saw.
  • Cuts on pull stroke
  • Great when training larger young trees

44
Chainsaw..
  • Quickly cuts larger branches
  • Think safety!

45
Prunings/brush as a resource
  • Can be turned into woodchip mulch
  • Best to compost for a few months
  • May be recycled at commercial processing companies

46
Pruning evergreen trees
  • Pines, juniper, spruce, arborvitae often look
    best at natural shape
  • Prune dead branches, individual branches to
    achieve desired form
  • Do not prune beyond green zone

47
Pruning
  • When to prune evergreens?
  • Pines
  • Usually not necessary unless you want to improve
    the denseness
  • Prune candles to ½ length after it is fully
    grown late spring
  • Spruce
  • Cut back 1 year old shoots to one of the lateral
    side buds or branches in early spring before new
    growth begins
  • Junipers or arborvitae
  • During early spring, prune branches back to a
    side branch
  • Inner dead zones do not make pruning cuts into
    this zone new growth will only develop from
    green twigs

48
Evergreen
49
Single dead branch
50
Pruning shrubs...
  • Prune for natural form

51
Reasons to prune
  • Rejuvenate shrubs
  • Improve shape
  • Remove dead
  • Improve aesthetics
  • Improve health

52
Rejuvenation pruning thinning
  • Thinning multi-stemmed shrubs
  • Remove largest, oldest stems as close to the
    ground as possible.
  • Remove 1/3 of plant each year to keep plant young
    and vigorous.

53
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54
Heading back
  • Used to reduce size of plant
  • Selective removal of shoots down in the plant
    where they meet another branch
  • Usually done late fall to mid-July

55
  • Rejuvenation

56
Shearing.
  • Used in formal designs
  • Narrow tops and wide bottom gives best light
    penetration
  • Often results in thick, dense growth with little
    depth of foliage
  • Light pruning any time
  • Heavy pruning early spring til mid-July

57
Spring flowering shrubs
  • Prune following bloom
  • white spirea
  • forsythia
  • flowering quince
  • lilac

58
Summer flowering shrubs
  • Bloom on current season growth
  • Prune in early spring
  • shrub rose
  • pink spirea
  • rose of sharon
  • butterfly bush
  • crape myrtle

59
Foliage shrubs
  • Shrubs grown primarily for foliage should be
    pruned in spring before growth begins
  • junipers
  • mahonia
  • sumac
  • burning bush
  • ninebark
  • barberry

60
Prune to prevent insect problems
  • Ash-lilac borers attack oldest branches
  • Lilac remove oldest canes each year

61
Pruning
  • When to prune evergreens?
  • Pines
  • Usually not necessary unless you want to improve
    the denseness
  • Prune candles to ½ length after it is fully
    grown late spring
  • Spruce
  • Cut back 1 year old shoots to one of the lateral
    side buds or branches in early spring before new
    growth begins
  • Junipers or arborvitae
  • During early spring, prune branches back to a
    side branch
  • Inner dead zones do not make pruning cuts into
    this zone new growth will only develop from
    green twigs

62
Yews/Taxus.
  • Though evergreen, they can be pruned into the
    brown zone since dormant buds will often grow
    new branches

63
Redtwig dogwood
  • Grown for bright red branches
  • Branches dull after 3 years
  • Avoid shearing
  • Cut to ground every three years in winter

64
Too big?
  • Replace with a smaller maturing plant
  • Saves maintenance
  • Allows for natural growth vs. sheared

65
Grafted plants
  • Prune any shoots coming from below graft
  • roses
  • weeping mulberry
  • weeping crabapples

66
Situation Fruit Trees
  • Thinning, not heading back
  • Yearly
  • Light to the center of tree improves coloring and
    reduces disease
  • Increases penetration of pest control products

67
To prune or not to prune.
68
Situation
  • What is natural shape
  • Remove suckers at base
  • Remove competing leader
  • Remove competition with lighting

69
Double leader..
  • What would you do?

70
  • Prepared by
  • Bob Neier
  • Sedgwick County Extension Agent Horticulture
  • August, 2005
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