Making Better Cuts
I want to address an easily-preventable pruning issue which I’ve seen many times on the trees of my clients.
The issue is what is called a Heading Cut, or a pruning cut made in the middle of a branch, without regard to the size or direction of the branches around it. This is the type of cut used in the outdated practice of topping trees.
This has a traumatic effect on the tree- making them weaker, more susceptible to disease. They react by sending up multiple long, spindly shoots that have weak attachments and no regard for structure. It disfigures the tree until corrected. 1
Here are pictures of this type of pruning that I’ve come across in my work:
In these pictures, you can see the principal cut and the surrounding reactionary branches. I’ve done many restorations to repair the unnatural structures created by this type of cut. Thankfully, there are pruning cuts that can be made to prevent this from happening.
If you have a tree that has had a pruning like the pictures above, and/or you would like her to be pruned healthfully, I’m happy to help. Contact me today.
1. Hodel, D. “Pruning—Understanding Plant Responses.” Pruning, UC Agriculture and Natural Resoures, 2009, ucanr.edu/sites/gardenweb/files/28952.pdf.
- By : Andrew Ty
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