Tips on trimming your trees:
Hey there I’m Steve with Davey tree and today we’re talking trees I’m 50 feet up here
in a nice oak tree and a little bit of a chill in the air the dormant season is approaching
so you guys might think I’m a little bit crazy, but today I’m here to talk to you about trimming how we trim and when we trim and some of the advice we can give you to make the proper type of cuts. It’s definitely a good idea to wait until the fall and into winter time to do some of your trimming.
One of the major reasons is that you can see the scaffolding branches of the tree and also
visually inspect some of the non-essential branches, another good reason is that you will be eliminating the spread of pathogens and possible insect infestations in some of the trimming cuts that you will be making on the tree. Okay, so we just talked about when we trim that’s talked a little bit about why we trim.
One of the biggest reasons that we need to trim the tree would be for the eliminating the
dead or diseased orbroken branches on a tree one for the trees own health and also for
safety for the folks below the tree as well another reason we may trim to allow
wind and light to penetrate through the canopy also we can trim to create elevation or
clearance around structures and also for a better fruit or flower production. Well, as you can see I am pretty high up here in the tree and I’m in my rope and saddle according to ANSI notion standards.
Please do not try this at home if the things you’d like to have trim cannot
be reached from the ground. Please call and hire a professional licensed
arborist like Collins Tree Service Gainesville and if the branches and things you’d
like to have trimd are within range of the utility wires please call your power company
first and have them come out and do the work so now we’re back on the ground. As you can see this tree is much more manageable we can make all our cuts here at ground level.
You can see there’s no utility wires in the way and there’s no other safety
concerns to prohibit us from doing our work I also have my hard hat and my
safety glasses and let’s get started. So, what am I looking for when I trim
this tree as I mentioned before we will want to remove dead diseased or broken
branches for the health of the tree we will also want to identify and remove
water sprouts and suckers. Finally, I’ll look for a strong central leader and
examine the branching structure of the tree I may want to directionally trim
the tree to make sure it maintains a strong healthy shape.
Now we’re going to talk about how to make a proper cut all right far too often people
make one and only one cut right up against the tree trunk which results in a rip or a
tear the bark. So, I’m going to demonstrate here is the three-point cut.
I’m going to come out a little further away from the trunk about a foot or so depending on how large the limb is and first make an undercut then come out and move a little further away and make a top cut that way the branch will fall off cleanly and there’s no chance of tearing or ripping. Then I will come back and flush off the remaining stub and make my third and final cut. I’ve made my first two cuts and I’m preparing to remove this stub and make my third and final cut one important note is that I’m going to make this cut in an area called the branch bark Ridge to allow for optimum healing after the trimming cut has been made I do prefer to hold on to this stub while I make the cut to avoid any other potential damage.
Proper trimming is not as easy as it looks so if you have any questions feel free to contact a professional and licensed arborist like Collins Tree Service Gainesville at (352) 301-1503.