When Should I Prune Trees in My Garden?
Pruning is essential for shrubs and trees in a garden as it promotes the growth of new branches. Pruning also helps to maintain the shape of shrubs and trees and prevent them spread into unwanted areas. The benefits of pruning are many, but it needs to be done at the right time and in a precise way.
Tree owners need to prune their trees at the right time and in the right season. Pruning any shrub or tree in the wrong season can lead to infection from pests or microorganisms that can rot the branches. Also, there are different techniques that landscapers use for pruning. The right tools and techniques help them prune with precision for the proper growth of shrubs and trees.
The pruning season may vary for different types of trees and depend on the location and climate. Let us explore more about the right time for pruning trees in any garden.
Deciduous trees
The best time to prune deciduous trees in a backyard is from mid of February to the end of March. These trees don’t have foliage in these months that offer you a clear view of the branches and make it easy to analyze and remove the branches.
Also, the cuts and wounds on branches heal quickly prior to the growth in the spring season. It is best to avoid the pruning of these trees in the spring as they leaf out the leaves and in fall when they drop their leaves.
Deciduous shade trees
Prune the shade trees like ash, oak, and linden when they are dormant in the winter season. When the weather is cold, it is easier to see the branching structure, and you are less likely to spread disease through the pruning wounds. Avoid pruning the non-blooming shrubs in the late summer.
Sap producing trees
Trees that produce a heavy sap flow are known as “bleeders” if pruned in winter. The sap flow may be visibly enough, but it does not harm the tree in any way. You can wait until the leaves grow fully in summer to avoid bleeding while pruning these trees.
Fruit Trees
The best time to prune the fruit trees is from mid of February to the end of April. Landscapers should prune the fruit trees before they start to leaf out in the early spring. The fruit trees are still dormant in the early spring, and it is the best time for pruning.
The best time to prune a newly planted fruit tree is summer when the new growth begins to sprout from the initial pruning. Pruning the branches at this time increases scaffold strength, minimize rubbing, and grow fruiting branches.
For the first three years, you need to manage the scaffold and remove the crossing branches. But after three years, dormant pruning needs to be done on fruit trees. Dormant pruning involves removing the deadwood branches that are week and discourage fruiting in trees.
Landscapers shoulf not prune Peach trees while dormant, like the other fruit trees. If you prune them in the winter, they may suffer dieback. During dormancy, pruning a peach tree can also cause a less cold-hardy tree to move forward.
Evergreen trees
Most landscapers don’t prune their evergreen trees, which is a good idea most of the time. There’s no need to prune the evergreen trees in your backyard. This can stress and distort the tree (when you want to limit its size). For this reason, you should choose a small evergreen dwarf, when the space is low.
The evergreen trees like spruce, pines, and fir also need seasonal pruning. Although they are evergreen, they need pruning in the right season. You can remove the dead and infected branches at any time, but late winter is the right time to trim the lower branches. Trees like spruce and fir have side branches and lateral buds as their new growth. Landscapers cut the shoots back to the right above the lateral bud or side branches at the beginning of the spring season.
Evergreen shrubs
If you have needle bearing shrubs in your garden, you can prune them in the early spring. This is the time towards the end of their dormancy, and the new growth is about to happen. Pruning at this time provides plenty of time to the shrubs for growth and produces new shoots that harden before the upcoming winter.
Flowering trees
In general, flowering plants can be pruned at any time of the year. You need to pay attention to the blooming season of your trees, and moving in soon after will yield the showiest display. After a few years of pruning, you will enter a rhythm that will produce beautiful blooms year after year.
Summer blooming trees
Blooming plants produce their flowers in the current season on new growth. Prune them while they’re dormant in winter, or just before they push their new growth out in the early spring. In late winter, you can even cut them all the way to the ground, and that same summer they will still bloom.
Some tips for pruning trees
It’s best to know which branches you want to remove before you start clipping. Prune the branches that are dead, dying, or sick. Cut well below any affected areas if you’re dealing with diseased branches. Don’t prune when it’s wet outside, as water can spread the infection to other areas. You will also want to cut off the branches invading your walkways or mown some so that they don’t break off, unfortunately. In general, thinning branches often allow more sunlight and air to reach trees and shrubs in the middle.
Final Words
These are the times of the year when you can prune the trees in your garden. You can see the right time for pruning varies for different trees and shrubs. Also, it is essential to use the right techniques and consider other plants and environmental factors while pruning. If you don’t have experience pruning trees, it is best to hire professional landscaping services like tree removal Ryde to prune the trees in your garden.