A beautiful yard doesn’t just happen. If yours contains a number of trees, you will already know the importance of keeping them looking their best. This is accomplished through a practice known as pruning. It is a great do-it-yourself project that provides great visual appeal to your property if you do it correctly. There are a few handy things to know about the correct timing for this kind of project. Here are some simple guidelines to keep in mind when you decide to give the trees in your yard a trim.
1 – Why Are You Pruning?
You should have an idea as to why you would want to cut branches off of a perfectly good looking, living thing. If your main reason is to remove dead wood, this is a project you can do at any time of the year. In fact, when you trim off branches that have died, you help the rest of the tree grow stronger and it will likely become healthier as well.
2 – Winter Pruning Is Common
As trees typically go dormant in the cooler months, this is usually the best time of year to conduct a major pruning operation. When you cut trees back in winter months it results in a rather bold burst of new growth in the spring.
3 – The Best Time to Prune
Winter pruning is most successful if you take on the project as soon as the coldest part of the season has passed. Keep in mind that some tree species will ‘bleed’ because their sap will continue to flow. This is not a sign that the tree is suffering in any way whatsoever. In fact, sap bleeding is to be expected with many species.
4 – Pruning During the Summer
There is a strategy that comes with pruning trees during the summer. If your goal is to direct growth by ‘dwarfing’ branches you don’t want to grow too much, then this is the time to do some trimming. Removing branches after seasonal growth has ended reduces the amount of leaf surface that can produce food for the tree.
5 – The Worse Time to Prune
Fall is when decay fungi can spread the most. This is important to know because when you cut off branches in fall, the wounds heal much slower because of the rapid spore growth that happens. The slower a pruning wound heals on a tree, the more likely that tree will develop some form of rot that can eventually kill it.
Is It Time to Trim the Size of Your Home?
If you are looking to downsize and move into a smaller home for your retirement, I can help. My name is Jen Bedard and I call the Niagara Region home. I can assist you with your search for the perfect home. Call me today for details.