Pruning too much or too little, or pruning in the wrong place can have a lasting effect on plants. Follow these directions for healthier plants.
Pruning Twigs and Small Branches
If your tree is young and you want to prune small lower branches right after planting, then, by all means cut them back to the trunk.
But once your tree is growing, you’ll want to cut back to a bud, one that looks healthy and vigorous, or you can cut it back to an intersecting branch.
If you choose to cut back to a bud, choose one pointing in the direction you want the new limb to grow.
If you’re cutting back to an intersecting branch, pick one that forms an angle less than 45 degrees to the branch you want to remove. If the limb you want to cut grows upwards, then make a slanting cut on it. This keeps water from collecting in the cut, discourages bacteria and insects, and helps healing.
Pruning Thick Branches
At the point where a thick, heavy branch meets the trunk, there is what’s known as a “collar.” It’s a thicker area, usually has coarser bark, and may have bark rings around it. This is the point you’ll want to cut – not flush with the trunk.
The “collar” encloses a number of cells which keep diseases and insects from passing from the outside of the cut into the tree’s vascular system.
In a nature, when a branch decays (part of the natural process) and falls away, the collar walls off the tree from infection.
Removing the collar affects the tree’s natural coping mechanisms, and serious trunk wounds ensue.
Use a three-part cut when removing large branches (anything over an inch and a half in diameter).
First, make a cut from the bottom of the branch about six inches to a foot from the trunk. The cut should extend about a third of the way through the branch.
Next, make a second cut from the top about three inches further from the trunk than the undercut. Keep cutting until the branch falls away. Next, cut the existing stub back to the collar.
If the branch is large and in danger of damaging other limbs below it or objects (or people) on the ground, then rope and support it, and carefully lower it to the ground.
Pruning Paint
Pruning paint is cosmetic, and provides no benefit to the tree. In fact, it can cause damage to the tree, sapping moisture and increasing disease problems. If anything, pruning paint provides a psychological balm to the person cutting the branch.
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