Whether you have tried to prune your plants or plan to do it soon, the procedure you follow can help the trees become healthy or damage them. For this reason, it's vital to be cautious and familiarize yourself with the proper cutting or pruning techniques. This way, you won't have to worry about compromising your trees' well-being. To help you, here are examples of the mistakes you must avoid when taking on pruning work yourself.
Using Improper Tools
The tools you use for pruning will determine the outcome. Therefore, get the recommended tools depending on the scope of work. Some common options include loppers, pruning shears, pole pruners, saws, and hedge shears.
Once you get the tools, examine their condition. Check the state of the blades. Are they sharp enough and clean? If not, you will need to sharpen and clean them to get clean cuts. The last thing you want is to make improper cuts or introduce bacteria to the inner parts of the tree while pruning. Tools with moving parts should also be well-oiled beforehand for the best results.
Topping The Trees
Tree topping involves removing the entire top part of the tree to leave lateral stubs that cannot naturally take up the terminal bud's role and allow the tree to grow taller. It's a destructive tactic that can weaken the tree structure, stress the tree, or cause decay. If one of your trees has outgrown its space, it would be best to remove it instead of topping it.
Failing To Pay Close Attention
It might be easy to mow your lawn or water the plants in your garden without much thought. However, pruning must be done keenly. You must pay attention to detail to avoid mistakes that will affect the well-being of your trees. Therefore, learn the basic practices first to ensure you make accurate cuts depending on the task. In addition, take your time when cutting because once you prune a tree wrongly, you cannot undo it. Therefore, if you have limited time to learn the best practices of tree pruning, you can always work with a seasoned arborist for the best results.
When you work with tree pruning specialists, you won't have to worry about getting the right tools and following the proper practices. The professionals will bring their state-of-the-art tools and use proper techniques depending on the application. Overall, you'll get quality services and save time and money.
Contact a tree pruning company to learn more.