Tree pruning in New York is a landscaping service that beautifies and reinforces your trees so they will fight off pests, diseases and severe weather – and look wonderful doing it!
Pruning should be completed if you want a healthy tree, but it must be done properly by someone who has experience in what they’re doing. Like a certified arborist from NY Tree Trimming. You may be able to prune and trim trees safely while they are still small and growing, but you also may be doing irreparable damage to the tree in the process.
To properly prune trees, you must know all of the following:
- When is the best time to prune your species of trees
- How much of the tree can be pruned at a time
- Where to cut each branch so you do not damage the tree
Cutting too much from a tree could kill it or lead to structural damage, but precise pruning done annually benefits trees in a lot of ways. Professional pruning improves the appearance of trees, makes them healthier, eliminates dying or diseased limbs and increases fruit or flower production.
Ideally, pruning should be completed once a year, but as trees get older, you might be able to go two years between major pruning services. Regardless of how routinely you have your trees trimmed, ensure your arborist is qualified to perform the type of tree pruning your trees need. This won’t be an issue if you call NY Tree Trimming in New York!
Types of Tree Pruning Methods
There are 7 different ways to properly trim a tree so that it grows stronger and healthier each year.
Depending on the size, species and health problems of your trees, one pruning method might be more effective than another, but each technique has various benefits to consider.
Crown Thinning Your Trees
Crown thinning is common for larger, overgrown trees in New York. This method eliminates weak branches within the crown to improve light and air flow through the crown. Air flow is especially important to help prevent disease.
This tree pruning method also eliminates branches and limbs that are touching so they do not rub against each other and break or create weakened areas that can be an entry point for insects and pests. Limbs that grow at strange angles are usually cut off during crown thinning.
Crown Raising Your Trees
This trimming method only removes branches and limbs at the lower part of the crown so limbs start higher up on the trunk of the tree. Letting low branches get too large makes them very hard to cut off, and they can pull nutrients away from the top of the tree, resulting in less fruit and a weaker tree.
There are a variety of reasons you may decide to raise the crown of a tree. Many times, it is done to clear the line of sight for automobiles and pedestrians, but it can also be done to make space for landscaping under the tree.
It is a very common method for large trees that are too close to homes and buildings.
Crown Reduction
Crown reduction lowers the total size of the crown from its outer edges. It shortens limbs horizontally and vertically to keep the tree at a manageable size. By lowering the crown size, you can remove the need to chop the tree down because it will no longer interfere with traffic lights, power lines or street lights.
Even when the tree isn’t near structures like those listed above, crown reduction will help the tree look neater because it also eliminates irregular growth. This is a great idea for trees that are various ages but you want to look uniform.
Crown Cleaning
Often known as deadwood pruning, crown cleaning is a minimally invasive tree trimming technique that gets rid of dead, snapped or diseased limbs so that the remaining parts of the tree may continue to grow normally. These limbs can only create problems in the future.
Crown cleaning makes the tree look much better, and it prevents branches from rubbing together. It is also a safety practice that lowers the likelihood of falling branches, because healthy branches do not usually fall.
Crown Restoration
Crown restoration is an advanced pruning method for trees that have been significantly damaged (either by weather or vandals). It needs to only be done by an experienced arborist who knows where the tree is likely to grow over time and roughly how long it’s restoration is going to take.
Unlike other tree pruning services, crown restoration occurs during a longer period of time with conservative trimming that reshapes the tree. Your arborist must have a plan to restore the tree, but also be flexible as the tree grows and reshapes on its own, working with the tree’s new growth.
Vista Pruning
If you are striving for trees that increase the beauty of your landscaping, you are most likely interested in vista pruning. The purpose of vista pruning is to make the tree more visually pleasing from a particular vantage point.
It consists of several pruning techniques including crown thinning, crown reduction and crown cleaning – any technique that helps the trees look more attractive. Remember, though, that a professional will never compromise the health of a tree, so the primary focus of vista pruning is still to maintain strong, healthy trees.
Espalier Pruning
Espaliered trees are heavily pruned to grow flat up against walls or a trellis. It is a unique style of tree pruning that is sure to attract a lot of attention to your lawn. Espalier pruning must be started when the tree is young and then continued very routinely throughout the tree’s life span.
Some of the benefits of espalier pruning include facilitating maximum sunlight to get to the trees, as well as making it much easier to produce fruit.
Professional Tree Pruning in New York
Tree pruning can be harmful to a tree, your landscaping, and, of course, for you! NY Tree Trimming highly suggests professional tree pruning over DIY.
Besides the many possible dangers of tree trimming, you can do a lot of harm to a tree if you don’t know how to trim it properly. Over-pruning is one of the most common errors made by homeowners trimming their own trees.
Trees in New York that get annual care from a professionals are usually much better off, and hiring an experienced arborist from NY Tree Trimming to prune the trees on your property is a choice you won’t regret. Locate your town in our service area. We work with arborists across the entire state of New York!
