Pruning the Trees Needs the Right Service, and Now You Have That

That regular pruning is important for the healthy growth of a tree or shrub that you know by now. After all, pruning is growing! But how can you best prune trees and when? We explain it to you.

When to prune trees?

The period in which you can best prune a tree depends on the type of tree and the degree to which you want to prune. Knot trees can best be pruned in the period from November to February. 

Light maintenance pruning (summer pruning) can be done in the period from June to the end of October. The branches then run out nicely and through the pruning there can be enough light everywhere in the tree. Note: prunes are best pruned in the period from July to September.

Points of attention when pruning

Pruning trees is quite an art and it therefore requires the necessary experience to master it. Especially fruit trees require the necessary insight, at least if you want to have a good relationship between growth branches and fruit branches. There are books full written about tree pruning and you can follow a pruning workshop almost everywhere. It is therefore difficult to briefly explain how to do this. However, we can give you some tips so that you can avoid beginner’s mistakes.

Use sharp tools: this prevents the formation of ragged wounds that mold and bacteria grow into. 

Remove double knots (competitors) as much as possible. Would you keep one main branch that grows straight up. 

Do not cut away more than a third of the crown in one go. If you prune too much, the tree will make water locks. These are upright branches that grow very quickly and will not bear fruit. Follow us on: Twitter

Always prune away dead wood and prevent branches from rubbing against each other.

Do not cut fruit trees in rainy weather. The wounds are then extra sensitive to fungal infestation, which gives you more chance of fruit tree cancer.

Pruning wounds or not

Pruning trees sometimes brings pruning wounds for a tree. In principle, you do not have to treat too many pruning wounds of a tree, especially when you prune in the right period. It does cost the tree some reserves to close the wound in a natural way, but usually it works well on its own. However, if you prune in the wrong period, the tree can lose a lot of juice. It is difficult to stop this process because the pressure with which the juice is pushed out is quite large. A wound covering means will then remain inconvenient or it will close too much. This keeps the moisture trapped in the wound, which in turn can lead to rot.

However, it can sometimes be useful to cover pruning wounds, for example with stone fruit trees such as apricot, cherry, peach or plum. These species are susceptible to the lead glaze and by the use of a wound agent with fungicidal action, you can sometimes prevent this disease from occurring. You can also prevent fruit tree cancer in certain cases.

Whether or not you should treat a pruning wound depends on the kind of tree and the period in which you prune. Unfortunately, opinions differ on this subject and there is not one appropriate answer to this question. Inquire about this subject from a professional tree grower.

Search for garden contractor

Does your garden require a one-off major maintenance or do you want to record annual maintenance? It can then be interesting to work with permanent pruning services who visit the desired dates. Use the online quotation service now and request free proposals and prices from recognized Alex Tree and Garden Services from your region.