Your responsibilities when having trees on your property do not stop when you see them grow. They need to stay healthy and look beautiful and keeping them trimmed is one way to achieve them. Trimming enhances the natural shape of the tree. What’s more, there are many types of trees trimming methods that you can do for your trees as part of their care and maintenance.
The objectives for tree trimming Indooroopilly to meet the desired results include:
Maintaining health
Improving aesthetics
Providing clearance
Reducing shade and wind resistance
Influencing fruit or flower production
Minimizing the risk for tree or branch failure
What Is Tree Trimming?
Trimming is generally performed to maintain the overall size of a tree. Trimming is the removal of excess branches of the tree for an aesthetically pleasing appearance and maintaining regularity in shape and size. When you trim a tree, it helps the remaining foliage grow thicker and faster than if the plant were untrimmed. Trimming can also address plant crowding because concentrated trees tend to compete with one another for resources.
Professional arborists recommend tree trimming to be conducted every year on young trees. As trees grow taller over time, more branches form and shade out other parts of the tree. This brings about new growth that will eventually get too large for its structure, causing structural failure or splitting of wood on bigger trees.
The frequency of trimming your tree needs depends on how it grows, as well as the climate conditions in your area. Deciduous trees like oak, maple, or elm normally require more frequent trimming compared to evergreens as they grow much quicker.
When it comes to equipment used for trimming, it depends on the size of the trees and scale of operation. The equipment necessary for the job usually comprises power tools and hand tools. These include chainsaws, pole pruners, and branch shears. Those manual branch shears are extremely efficient in trimming trees.
Reasons for Trimming Your Trees
Growth control. You can control the growth of your trees through trimming. Doing this regularly will make it easier to maintain a tree. Trimming in the summer usually limits tree growth while fall or winter trimming promotes more growth.
Encourage fruit production. Trimmed fruit trees in late winter help increase growth in summer and spring. When a tree has less volume to maintain, it utilizes its excess energy stores in order to produce more fruit.
What you want to avoid here is over-trimming, as it stimulates lots of new growth but at the expense of fruits. You only need to cut dying, diseased, and dead wood, along with any branches that point inwards or crossing branches.
Ensure health.Tree trimming maintains the health of the trees on your property. The process removes dead, sick, and extra branches. When trees are trimmed properly, you encourage more air circulation and sun exposure,promoting healthy growth. You will soon notice more new branches and a healthier structure of younger trees.
Safety. Tree branches that are already dead pose a risk to life and property, particularly when there is a storm. If you have tree with branches touching power lines, trimming can prevent accidents by removing the high-risk branches from it.
Types of Tree Trimming Techniques
Here are the various tree trimming options you may use:
Dead Pruning. Also known as crown cleaning, it refers to the trimming of dying, diseased, or dead branches. It is considered the most basic type of trimming service, which mainly aids in improving the appearance of the tree.
When you have dead branches, the major concern is whether they will fall from the tree, but rather when. Getting rid of those branches early on reduces the risk of damage to property or injury to someone. This also prevents the diseased branches from spreading and affecting other parts of the tree.
In some cases, you may opt to remove the entire dead wood instead of cutting down its size. This process can make the tree look cleaner and less risky.
Crown Lifting.This type of tree trimming is cutting off the lower branches of the crown to reduce the mass of the bigger limbs. It is performed with the purpose of clearing roads, sidewalks, and removing branches that may be disruptingthe structure of the house. It allows your tree to match its surrounding landscape.
Note that thistechnique can have adverse effects on fully grown trees considering that larger branches leave bigger wounds on the tree. Therefore, crown lifting is best suited for younger plants. It also advisable to avoid over-pruning as this may impact the lower limb of the tree.
Pollarding. This trimming method is used on trees in various locations, helping them to shape so that they stay safe and healthy. Tree pollarding is also used to prevent tall trees from obstructing phone lines and electrical wires when they are near the streets.
When expert arborists pollard a tree, first they cut off the central leader of the tree, and then remove all the branches with the same height. This helps shorten the tree crown. For safety, they will try to keep the height of the tree at least six feet above the ground as well as to prevent the animals from grazing.
Pollarding may look awkward at first or look like the tree has been destroyed, but eventually you will see a thick crown growing back. With this, it is essential to pollard young trees, as older trees will take a longer time to grow back in and fill with greens.
Crown Thinning. This technique involves getting rid of weak branches to open the canopy. Crown thinning improves the air and light penetration into the tree. In addition, it lightens the load of the bigger branches by cutting defected branches.
With crown thinning, the arborist will ensure that theytake out unwanted branches throughout the crown including the edges. The tree expert also knows not to remove too many branches from the center as this may impact the overall tree structure.
Crown Reduction.
This tree trimming involves reducing the overall tree height or mass of the bigger branches. It is recommended on younger trees than for more mature ones. In older trees, it is much better to remove an entire limb rather than reducing it.
The focus of crown reduction is to remove terminal branches to preserve the main limb. It should be done with great care professional arbour technicians who understand the tree growth pattern. If done right way, your tree will continue to grow healthy and avoid the risk of decaying after pruning.
