You’ve probably heard your neighbour talk about pruning their trees. It sounds like a good idea and your neighbour seems to know what he’s doing! “I have trees on my property – maybe I should look into pruning them” you’re likely thinking. But what exactly does that mean? How does it benefit your trees? What is the best way to do it?
Our blog explores these questions. Read on and find out!
What is Pruning?
Pruning is the act of selectively removing branches from a tree. It targets diseased, damaged, dead, structurally unsound, or otherwise unwanted branches from the tree in order to help it grow in a more healthy and productive way.
In nature, weather conditions such as wind, ice and snow, and salinity can cause plants to self-prune in a process known as abscission. Since we are on a human timeline and can’t necessarily expect nature to prune trees the way we want them pruned, we have to prune them ourselves without waiting for the wind to do it for us.
Purpose of Pruning
There are many different reasons to prune your trees. These include:
Promote healthy tree growth – pruning is used to help keep a tree healthy. It removes dead and diseased branches that are a threat to the tree. It also helps to improve the plant’s structure, which is beneficial to it in the long term. Pruning is also used to help trim back branches that are too close to buildings or power lines and pose a threat to property.
Thin out branches – trees that don’t get enough sun will die. For example, if the oaks are just too lofty and grab up all the light, it can leave the maples wanting more sunlight. Pruning trees to thin out the branches and allow more sunlight through can help reduce the trouble with the trees.
Aesthetics – it’s your property and you want it to look good to neighbours. Pruning your trees can make them look neater and more orderly, giving your property a cleaner and more curated look.
Safety – as mentioned above, pruning trees is one way to help improve the safety of your property. Dead branches can fall and cause property damage or injury. Meanwhile, branches that grow too close to power lines or buildings have the risk of causing damage and even fires.
Enhance property value – with all those other positive factors, it shouldn’t come as a shock that keeping your trees pruned can enhance your property value. Aesthetics is a big factor that potential buyers look for when assessing your home, and keeping your trees pruned can raise the value of your property in their eyes.
Contact Us for Tree Pruning in Brockville
Properly pruning your trees takes a bit of knowledge. If you do it wrong, you could damage your tree more and even kill it. That’s why, if you’re not sure what you’re doing, you should call a professional arborist, such as Tim Allen’s Tree Services, to help with pruning the trees on your residential property in Brockville or Kingston.
We are ISA Certified with over 20 years of experience. To book an assessment and a quote, please give us a call today.