Common Mistakes You Should Avoid While Pruning

Any type of tree, either it is fully grown or just a sapling, should be treated as an anchor to any landscape. They have huge impact on your landscape and your garden. They serve a very important role in maintaining beauty and balance of your yard. In return, you also need to take good care of them. You need to carry out some works to give them great shape and healthy growth.

Taking good care of your trees include perfect pruning to be carried out on them.  A tree, when it is pruned is beautiful to look at, but if you don’t prune it regularly and perfectly, people can easily notice their wrong shape, bushy structures, and unhealthy stem condition.

Pruning is treated as a science. It’s an art too. Pruning generally refers to the cutting of branches in a decent manner. This science involves indicating the flaws of a plant. Later it eliminates and minimizes the defects of a plant in a skillful way. Sometimes we, the gardeners make some common mistakes, generally very common in us in pruning a tree.

These limitations can also be avoided easily by following some rules and instructions. Here, we have mentioned five common mistakes that people often make. We will also share with you some solutions to avoid such mistakes and to support you in for giving your trees and plants a very healthy shape and growth.

Snipping

It’s a general thought that larger cuts will hurt the trees and smaller ones are more gentle for them. But the reality is just the opposite. If you are cutting the tips of the branches, you are going to make the biggest mistake. Pruning actually accelerates the growth of the trees. If you cut at the back of a branch, around five or six new branches will rapidly grow from that place. That will help the tree to get into a perfect shape in a much shorter time.

Using Dirty Shears

It is much advisable to clean up your pruning shears or blades with a small amount of alcohol before you use them.  Sometimes the blades look clean but you will never know whether there are any bacteria on it or not. These microorganisms cannot be seen with the naked eyes.

So you cannot ensure that there are no bacteria on your blades without washing them properly. If you do not clean the blades properly, there is a chance that your plant can be affected by microorganisms resulting into lots of diseases, even the death of your lovely plant.

Excessive Pruning

It is better to follow the pruning guidance properly before you start pruning your trees. It is advisable not to cut more than 20% of foliage of a mature tree. If you go beyond this, you might be putting too much stress on the tree and can restrict the flow of nutrients. You can prune more if you feel it’s needed but once you cut completely, you can never get it back.

Before pruning, avoid the areas that give structural support, otherwise, your tree can collapse at any moment. This will not only harm the tree but can also bring disaster for your family members too as branches may fall on them.

Pruning Conifers During Summer

Sometimes in growing season, it seems that conifers get out of control. They are likely to reach up to the roof. You may want to remove that part of the limb, but you can finish with cutting an important stub. Sometimes in doing this, you can literally cause the killing of the trees.

A conifer generally derives from the buds on the ends of each branch that is formed last during the growing season. If you remove the buds, that may cause a permanent damage to the stub. It will look ugly and will be brown always.  You can prune the conifers in the summer around the corner. A new growth occurs at the end of a branch, where the buds are located. If you remove these buds, it will affect the growth of the tree.

Not Pruning at All

The most common mistake that a gardener does is not pruning at all. Many people are afraid of drastic cuts. Sometimes they may think that they will cut more than what is needed and kill the tree. Again some people think that pruning will give the tree an ugly look. But if you leave your trees unpruned, it’s assured that you are losing the attractiveness of your tree or shrubs.

The beauty of a tree or a shrub is achieved from new growth only and it is the pruning which is the fast way to have new growth. There are other benefits too. Pruning enhances growth and development. It makes the tree a healthy one if pruning is done correctly.

Takeaway

This post will definitely help you to have a better pruning of your trees and at the same time will remove your stress regarding pruning. You need to just remember avoiding making the five mistakes which were mentioned above.

Pruning correctly will help to increase the strength of the limbs of your trees. It will also enhance the proper growth of trunk and limbs. If you prune your trees perfectly, it will give your tree an attractive look that people will surely notice.  

Sometimes pruning might seem difficult to do but it will be easier if you follow the proper instructions. This is the principle of pruning. If you think that growing naturally will give your trees a good look and better strength then you are going to make a mistake. Again pruning improperly will cause the destruction of your trees in ways like the shape and strength.

Hopefully, this post will help you in avoiding the common mistakes and at the same time, will help to make your garden or orchard a beautiful one by giving perfect shapes and sufficient strength to the trees.

If you find yourself uncomfortable to prune or if you feel that you are not very confident yet, you can hire a professional pruner or a lawn service. It’s the easiest way to take care of the matter since they know how to do it right and you don’t have to worry about making any mistakes when it comes to pruning.

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