Pruning Your Trees and Shrubs

Pruning is the process of cutting back or removing parts of a plant to encourage growth, shape it, or keep it healthy. Proper pruning involves careful identification and clean cuts. Unlike people, woody plants compartmentalize wounds to minimize the spread of disease and insect damage. The angle at which a cut is made affects how well the tree or shrub is able to grow over the injury. Using a sharp knife or shears, make slanting cuts when removing branches that grow upward; this expedites healing and helps prevent water from collecting in the cut and causing additional damage.

A primary reason for pruning is to remove dead, damaged or rotted wood. The removal of these limbs keeps the tree or shrub healthy, and also helps to maintain an attractive appearance in the landscape. Pruning can be done at any time, although different seasons can impact the success of certain types of cuts. Check with a local gardening resource for the proper times to prune specific trees in your area.

Many shrubby evergreens such as rhododendrons, forsythia, lilacs and viburnum benefit from periodic pruning to keep them in proportion with their surroundings and looking their best. This is often done to control the size of these plants, but it is also helpful in promoting new growth and keeping them dense.

Shearing is a form of pruning used to shape shrubs into specific forms. Generally, this is not desirable unless it is necessary to control the height of the plant or provide clearance for buildings, sidewalks or street traffic. Pruning can be used to create an attractive hedge, but this should be done with care to ensure that the finished product does not look unkempt and overgrown.

Insects and diseases are more likely to attack a plant that is overgrown and crowded, so pruning can help to reduce problems with these organisms. By reducing the amount of foliage, air movement is enhanced, and this can help to reduce the spread of disease from one plant to another.

The removal of water sprouts (shoots that rise straight up from the main branches of a tree or shrub) and suckers is important because they can detract from the overall appearance of the plant, interfere with the flow of water to the ground, and chafe against other limbs. Prune these limbs as soon as they are noticed to prevent their overgrowth.

Lastly, pruning is often needed to remove limbs that overhang houses, roads, driveways or other structures. This is a safety issue because these limbs can fall and cause property damage or injure people. It is important to prune these limbs before they break and, if necessary, have them removed by a professional. Ideally, these types of limbs should be pruned before storms occur.

source https://realtreesolutions.wordpress.com/2025/05/10/pruning-your-trees-and-shrubs-2/