Pruning & Patience

There are times that a simple pruning can make a big difference in the health of a tree. For example, let's look at three examples of trees that were pruned on recent Customer Service visits.

This River Birch suffered from losing its top branches. A simple cut back, albeit severe, will insure a healthy and very full, strong tree.

Result: This tree will now be thicker and grow to be a fuller beautiful tree.

These three River Birches, while very young, were just growing too fast. So much so, that they started to weep and look messy. First they were pruned for form, with a significant cut back prune all around the trees to shape them. Second, all winter die back (dead branches) remaining in the interior of the plant were pruned away and removed.

Result: These trees will now be thicker and fuller trees as they fill in.

This Japanese Maple has significant winter die back, losing several main branches. By simply removing the dead branches, and then pruning live branches back as well, for form, this Japanese Maple will surely grow back into a nice tree. Removing dead branches, which will be obvious as they appear grey, white and tan in color, vs. reddish in living color, will speed up the plants ability to thrive again.

Result: This tree will thrive as Japanese Maples are extremely resilient plants.

The key to pruning any tree is having patience!