Tips for Pruning Trees
and Bushes
Pruning and trimming a bush or tree will help it stay
healthier. In fact, many bushes and trees will start growing like
crazy after they've been pruned well, and if they produce flowers
you may find that you're getting many more blooms than usual after a
trim too.
Trimming is important for the bush or tree's health and vitality,
but it's also very important for general safety too. Leaving a dead
branch on a tree in a residential area can potentially invite harm
to your house, your vehicles, or your friends and family because
that dead branch will eventually fall to the ground... or whatever
is underneath of it.
Many gardeners are afraid to trim or prune their own bushes though,
because they're worried that they may somehow damage or kill the
plant they're trying to trim. It is quite safe to do though, and as
I've mentioned it's actually needed for the health of your tree. So
as long as you don't prune too much off at any given time, your
plants are quite fine with it. If you're nervous, then just start
very slowly with very small changes. Then as you become more at ease
with the trimming and pruning process, you'll feel better about
doing as much as is needed.
Trimming and pruning should be done in the winter when the plants
are dormant. I tend to do mine around January or February, right
before the first blush of spring flowers comes out in my area.
The first thing you'll need to do is cut away any dead branches from
your bushes. If the bush has extensive dead parts though, it's not
usually good to cut them away all at once. Instead, do a little more
each year over the course of several years.
If there are any areas of your bushes which look like they're
diseased or have major health problems, you generally want to cut
these away as well so that the rest of your bush will not become
infected.
Once dead or diseased branches are cut away, take a step back and
look at the bush or tree in full. Determine if there are any
branches which appear problematic or wrong in some way. There may be
an errant branch which is growing the wrong direction for instance,
or there may be new shoots which are encroaching into areas they're
not supposed to. Or you may simply want to neaten up the overall
shape a little bit. If so, trim branches as needed for the desired
results.
When pruning and trimming, be sure you're using sharp cutting tools.
Each cut you make should be clean and smooth. If your tools are not
sharp then you'll find yourself breaking and splitting remaining
branch parts, and this causes stress and injury to the bush.
If you want your bushes to bush out a bit and become fuller looking,
then make your pruning cuts just past a "knuckle" or "joint" in the
branch. This usually causes new shoots to form on either side of the
knuckle when the bush wakes up in the spring.
Once you're finished pruning and trimming, keep an eye on the bushes
when spring starts, because you might be astonished at just how fast
they start growing and blooming!
