Topic of the Week
Schedule Pruning Projects 10-24-04
Forum Archives
Location: Oregon, Western
Posted: Oct-23-2004 at 10:55pm
“Scheduling pruning projects”
This season is as good as any to schedule pruning projects. Our scheduled lists, our calendars, can include an extended plan for the following seasons.
Needs of each person will vary, but accumulatively, our needs will include disease control, debris removal capability, crafts, training, appearances and more.
Here are some ideas to consider:
1. Utilizing tree removals for training – Some of the best resources for practicing pruning are trees and shrubs that will be removed. Do you know someone who wants to learn how to prune? A master gardener, college instructor with a class, a friend or even yourself? See if postponing your removal will enable someone to practice pruning skills.
2. Pruning apple trees earlier can improve dormant spray coverage – If we wait until January or March to prune fruit trees like apple, we will have less effective dormant spray coverage. When apple trees are pruned earlier, such as mid-November and December, we gain better spray coverage afterward without sprouts in the way. This means using less chemical product.
3. Make sure that brittle or weak trees are thinned before Autumn and Winter storms arrive. A few trees that are notorious for weakness or too thick of a canopy are redbud, flowering plum, shore pine, sweet gum and some Robinia (locust) varieties. There are more, but those are a few.
4. Save conifer foliage and colorful foliage that is useful for crafts or holiday decorations – If you have foliage that can be used for crafts or holiday decorations, consider postponing pruning those plants until after the holiday season. There are various types of cedar used for crafts, but conifers like blue junipers and blue spruce may also be useful for swags and centerpieces. Bar Harbor Juniper’s plum colored foliage may be interesting in a wreath.
5. Consider your hauling capability – If you have a chipper or trailer, your debris removal ability may be almost unlimited. But if your hauling source is a large debris can that is dumped weekly, you may want to plan your pruning projects to get the most efficient use from your hauling service while simultaneously achieving your pruning needs.
6. Pruning to install an under-story planting – Many landscape plantings – initially – can’t have an under-story planting (under conifers) without lifting the immature tree canopy into a poodle. After conifers grow, low limbs can be removed for space to add plants underneath, but summer heat makes that season impractical to establish new plants under trees. Autumn and winter is a good time to remove lower tree limbs and plant under-story foliage while the weather is moist and cool. Fall is a significant root growth portion of the year.
7. Pruning for more light – Houses can become darker in the autumn and winter, especially if trees block light near windows. Yearly growth can dim the interior of a house more with each year. Fall is a good time to perform pruning that brings more light indoors.
8. Don’t prune material that will remove next year’s color – Forsythia and Lilac, for example, form flowers next year on what was the new growth of last summer. Don’t do much pruning on these kinds of plants in the cool season.
9. Winter tree or branch removal can reduce sunburn damage – One way trees are harmed is by sunburn. This can happen (especially summer) by removing a lot of limbs, or entire plants, that expose large areas of bark to hot sun. If your tree or large limb removal will increase sunlight on another tree, then the cool season is the best time to do that. Cool season removal allows the bark of remaining plants and trees to acclimatize to the light and heat as spring weather progresses from cool to hot. Even with the cool season used to an advantage, consider using a screening material over bark. I prefer window screen, double wrapped – it breaths, but does not stop all light. Topping of overgrown hedges like Photinia would best be done in cool weather.
10. Manage your evergreen foliage – This can include renovation of large shrubs. Suppose you have a large laurel that you want to “stub back” rather than remove. If you cut away the limbs with foliage in November, the lack of growth in winter will provide you with about 6 months (one half of a year) of bare sticks to look at during the cool seasons. If this same large laurel was not causing significant problems, it’s renovation could be postponed until near March. That would provide winter foliage and enable spring pruning that allows the plant to recover with foliage to avoid warm season sunburn damage to the bark and tissue. This can apply to many broadleaf evergreens like Photinia, azalea and even Yew, which is a conifer and that will sprout from bare wood unlike Pine and several other conifers.
11. Determine the greater need – Suppose its better to shear an arborvitae hedge before October arrives. Then it may be wise to postpone shearing until next spring or summer. But suppose an arborvitae hedge is loaded with floppy growth and limbs. If left in that condition, rain, snow and wind could damage that hedge; causing the removal of broken and disfigured limbs that would open big gaps in the canopy. The same hedge, if left alone during the cool season, may even split apart and have the bark torn. A hedge like this, with loose floppy foliage, could be sheared enough to reduce bulk that may cause harm if otherwise left remaining. This late foliage removal is a higher priority than adhering to a late summer shearing. It’s your choice. It’s your yard – you know it’s content.
12. Look for old deadwood in trees – Dead limbs frequently fall down in the rainy season. Not always because of wind, but because the weight increases as water soaks in. Then those heavy water soaked limbs pop out of the decayed sockets. It this happens in the woods, it’s not as bad as having the same kind of problem over a playground or parking area.
13. Increase clearance over the roof. In the winter, limbs hang lower because of rainwater weight. This means that wet limbs will start to wear through roofing material as strong winds blow these back and forth across shingles. Tiles may be broken.
These are just a few examples to show the potential need to schedule pruning around the home. A few people may not need to schedule pruning due to their skill and their habits; and maybe their equipment. But many people will benefit from jotting pruning related notes on their calendar. We don’t “have to” do it. But we should think about it.
(If you visit "my link", in the menu is "12 signs of hazard trees, which may stimulate a few other related ideas - such as watching the ground around trees in the winter for gaps in the soil) M.D. Vaden
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Oct-24-2004 at 11:24am
Great tips, MD! The one about pruning apple trees to increase coverage of dormant spray is one that wouldn't have occurred to me but makes perfect sense.
I did not get around to pruning my California wax myrtles. Myrica californica, this spring as I usually do. Judging from what you wrote above, it sounds like I should remove some of the heavier growth now - most prone to breakage in winter storms, etc - and then wait until spring to finesse its look. Am I correct in my assumption?
Thanks for the timely TOTW with very useful information!
mdvaden
Location: Oregon, Western
Posted: Oct-24-2004 at 10:28pm
That sounds about right on the wax myrtle.
One thing I did not list:
Dr: Alex Shigo, previous head scientist of the US Forest Service and current tree expert, said that if there was a "perfect" time to prune trees, it's right after leaves drop off, and right after leaves appear in spring. But he also said people can prune anytime.
So in other words, fall is the time for the perfectionist. But I've never seen anything go wrong from moderate pruning of any month.
But It's at least fair to quote Dr. Shigo for perfectionists that need to take it to the limit.
M.D. Vaden
Sydnie
Location: Western Washington
Posted: Oct-24-2004 at 11:12pm
I have bought all my fruit trees and ornamental trees really small. They are just getting big enough to prune now. I have apple, cherry, magnolia and a few others that I would like to give & keep a flat top look to to keep the foilage part of the tree compact. (I hope you know what I am talking about.) Extra shade nor another huge tree is not needed in my yard and I like the compact look. I also want the orchard tree's in the back yard to be pruned this way. I want lots of trees and bushes in my front yard (100's LOL)- however if they get too big I will lose the morning sun that I manage to get even with the big firs and maples. Can you tell me how to do this or maybe where I could find the information. I have even thought about paying someone to do it the first time- but I really would rather just learn how to do it myself.
mdvaden
Location: Oregon, Western
Posted: Oct-25-2004 at 4:10pm
That can be a tough question regarding general pruning - that's like trying to condense a good book and experience into one post. The coaching idea works grand. In fact, I just suggested it to a lady in Banks. Justin of Roots and Shoots Tree Service gave her my name. I stopped by last week and did a "prune and leave debris" for her Jap. maples and Jap. snowbell. She does not want to do those herself, but she is considering doing her fruit trees after she found out how much labor they take. She may start over from scratch with small trees. Anyway, I told her she could be shown tricks like how to convert water sprouts into fruit spurs, etc., and if she falls behind, she could have the trees fine tuned professionally every few years.
I think I can comment easily on one type of tree - apple. Check the apple photo on my pruning page:
M. D. Vaden pruning service page
Enlarge that apple photo.
The tree is about 14' tall and only a few feet wide. That's my preference. It's better than the umbrella form and is sturdier than espallier. Espallier may require a few less trees, but the savings in hardware and cost of training hardware makes up for the small extra trees cost if any.
This can be done in most cases only if the tree has one variety only.
I prune back to the tall pyramid framework yearly, with a light thinning in summer.
The tree in the photo is from 2 years ago, and is the same size now, only with extra gaps in the form filled in. It could be a bit shorter, like kept to 10' tall or 12'. But I use a 6' orchard ladder that only weighs 10 lbs. and I can reach to 14'. So 14 is it. I do have a 10' orchard ladder, but I'm trying to train the trees so I can do them in 20 years in case I need to chill-out a bit.
PS... In case any of you need a climber - you must give Justin with Roots and Shoots a ring. I only deal with trees from tiny up to 30' tall. Justin is who I coordinate with on big trees. He is one of the best professionals I have met in the trade in the last 12 years since Douglas Fowler with Fowler Tree Surgeons moved to Bloomington, Indiana. Justin cares about his work and has reasonable rates. He is very well mannered. Professional and courteous in every sense.
M.D. Vaden
DebbieTT
Location: Washington, Kitsap Peninsula
Posted: Oct-25-2004 at 10:11pm
So how do you prune water sprouts to make them fruit spurs, apple tree lovers want to know!
mdvaden
Location: Oregon, Western
Posted: Oct-26-2004 at 12:25am
Not hard, but I didn't figure it out until the supervisor at University of Portland showed me.
Basically, water sprouts are going to grow back if we cut them off no matter what. So...if one is growing in a vacant area that would be nice to have a fruit spur, don't cut the water sprout off completely. Cut off all except for about a 1" or 3" stub - about 1 or 2 buds indicated by the scars left by leaf stalks at the nodes.
Yes, it will sprout up again, but it would have anyway if cut all the way off.
Then, next year, cut it back again, but leave about an extra 1/4" to 1/2 inch - one extra leaf scar. At this point, you may get two sprouts, one to each side. If so, this is almost better yet as it diverts the vigour.
Each year, add about an extra leaf scar or one bud. In about 3 to 4 years, you will see this tiny twig cool it's jets for speed, and the buds will become fuzzy and start to flower.
No need to make them just anywhere a sprout appears - who wants one right in the crotch of two major branches? Or too close like 3" apart. But observation and planning will pay off. Remove excess, and allow them in spots that have the room or where the shoot points a good direction.
Also, when I prune apple trees, I don't remove all sprouts anyway. I remove about 3/4 of the largest, and leave 1/4 of the smallest shoots. Then next year, the ones that were left, grow and become part of the new 3/4 to remove, and that season's new growth generates small shoots to become part of the new 1/4 of small shoots to leave. (It's just my way of doing it. Years of doing this tends to show that the Auxins in the remaining few sprouts keep a bit of chemical control in the tree. And, I do promote light thinning in the summer also.
M.D. Vaden
Sydnie
Location: Western Washington
Posted: Oct-26-2004 at 8:38am
Thank you for the advice on pruning, it is appreciated.
Wanda
Location: Puget Sound corridor
Posted: Oct-28-2004 at 8:41am
MD - Sparklemama has a question for you she posted under the Coral bark Maple thread about pruning her apple tree. I will cut and paste her question here:
By the way i wanted to thank you for the great TOTW especially about the apple tree. so i can prune mine now? i pruned about 1/3 of it late winter this year and still branches peeled off from being to heavy with fruit. now all the branches almost touch the ground. any suggestions?
Thanks for all you help. I enjoyed learning about water sprouts. I've found that if I cut my wayward curly willow tree branches all the way back, new growth comes out almost vertical (not attractive on a curly willow) but if I leave stubs of the branches, it comes back less aggresively and more erratically (not vertical). Now I see why. Thanks!
-Wanda
Phlox
Location: Washington, Southwestern
Posted: Oct-28-2004 at 12:25pm
Lots of great tips MD, even helpful for those of us that have to keep everything fairly small. Which brings up a question. Is it harmful to try and keep a bush that is supposed to reach 8 or 10 feet to below 5'? Thank you for your answer.
JeanneK
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Oct-28-2004 at 3:48pm
I have always wondered that myself, Phlox. I guess it depends on the plant?
Jeanne
mdvaden
Location: Oregon, Western
Posted: Oct-28-2004 at 8:54pm
Sparklemama's apple first....
If the limbs reach the ground, the limbs are usually too long. It would have been better to shorten them earlier, but I would stub them. Yes, it will be like topping, but it's the lesser of two evils. so you may need to cut back to another twig, making it the new end, or just cut back to a stub. Cut enough so the limb feels rigid and stiff instead of long and flexible. You probably will get sprouts, and will just need to cut them as needed. By the way, no need to do them all at once. It may take a few years of doing a few this year, and a few later. Or some hard heavy cut backs on a few now and a little off the other limbs now.
Phlox's bush....
Not too hard, but more complex. Let's take burnind bush or Photinia for example. The tips of the limbs flush a chemical hormone downward that tells the buds under the bark and where the leaves are attached at, not to grow much and compete. When we cut the ends off, say all of them, the chemical factories are gone - no chemical control. Hence the explosion of sprouts. Most people don't know how to thin the profusion, or don't stand a chance, thus the hedge shears come out and we soon see a hedge. But no, it's not hard. But it does accelerate the maintenance. Another way, is to follow the long limb back to a shorter twig or branch and cut right above where it's connected, making the smaller limb a new end. The leaves more natural looking ends, a little bit more chemical hormone in the remaining tips and does not have the appearance of topping.
OH YES... It may not work on Pine or Juniper if there is no lower limb left that has green. Those don't have buds under the bark. If you cut a pine across a twig with needles, the twig will die back. That's why pines are candled or sheared on the topiaries in May / June. They only make new buds on a cross cut of a candle if it's done before the needles fully expand to the side and shed their sheaths. Ones the needles are mature, a cross cut to the candle brings dieback of that shoot.
YEW... Yew will take full hacking to bare wood and does sprout from bare bark. Just don't do it just before hot summer heat. Yews sprouts new buds and fill in nicely. That's why those can be handy for itsy bitsy tiny beds where only a column can fit - a Italian Cypress or Arborvitae may outgrow the space, but can't be cut back and may be a nightmare to did out of a 2' x 2' bed. But a Yew could grow for 20 years with shearing, then be cut back to a skinnier column once again and revitalize. That's why I tend to use columner yew when I can on my design blueprints when there is a tiny gap where an evergreen will go.
Most broadleaf evergreens like Camellia, etc., can take a fairly powerful renovation if it has to be done in the future.
M.D. Vaden
JeanneK
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Oct-29-2004 at 8:31am
Thanks, MD. Very useful information. I had noticed that my yews do seem to handle shearing differently than other plants but it hadn't quite gelled in my mind. No wonder many shrubs "explode" after cutting it down to the ground.
Jeanne
sparklemama
Location: Western Washington
Posted: Oct-29-2004 at 9:27am
wow md how can you memorize all that information and more! that is wonderful. thanks so much for the great topic and the apple tree info.
cjmiller
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: Oct-29-2004 at 5:46pm
Our 7 apple trees are mature now, We have pruned them so that they can be picked from the ground without a ladder, However, is there a sucessful way to reduce the number of water spouts? or do you just keep cutting of everything that grows straight up? Our apples were terrific this year. The Mutsu produced many huge apples over 16 ounces and one that weighed in at 31& 1/2 oz! Taller than a pepsi can!
Also, I have a 2 year old Persian Lilac that doubled in size last year, Does it need pruning? I havent found much on the long term care of this plant. Any advice? Carol
Phlox
Location: Washington, Southwestern
Posted: Oct-29-2004 at 5:57pm
Thanks MD, now I know what happened to my Pink Dogwood and my Viny Maple, hopefully I will be able to repair them.
I also thought of another ?. I have Arbor-vite all round my back yard, planted aprox. 20 yrs ago. I have kept them clipped down to between 7 and 9 feet all that time and they are doing great, love the privacy they give me living on a small town lot. Anyway what I would like to know is, I have had some of the limbs from the Arbor-vite take root and then I have tried to move them to weak spots and/or extend the hedge but they always seem to die-off on me. Could over-watering them be why? I tend to give a lot of water to transplanded plants and thought maybe that was the problem in this case. Or, can they not be started that way? I would appreciate any info. you could offer..............Thanks
mdvaden
Location: Oregon, Western
Posted: Oct-29-2004 at 9:42pm
cjmiller...
yes, just keep cutting the sprouts. Having apple trees means fighting nature, because nobody wants to pick them 40 feet in the air. I suppose your read how I prune up above.
Persian lilac...
Not sure what to say. I can't see what they look like. Are you watering and fertilizing? If so, maybe you can control growth by backing off on that kind of stuff. The interesting thing with shrubs, they usually get bigger than most people want, and that means cutting back (form of topping). And topping always removes the hormones that reduce sprouts. So when big shrubs get cut, the maintenance always increases and figuring out how to control or direct the plants is 3 times harder.
In fact, for something like forsythia - those are too twiggy to pay a pro to figure out the rats-nest of twigs. So I suggest shearing those. Let them get a bit bigger each year, then one day - WHACK - cut it back to 2' tall stubs and let it inch it's way back up again for another decade, then - WHACK - again.
phlox...
sounds like you have the older arborvitaes, not the new emerald green (Smaragd). Those original ones do get sloppy at times, and all you can do is the best you can do. What usually allows to to be a mess - is that people frequently skip shearing the sides, then they get floppy. If the sides are sheared routinely, those hedges stiffen up the form. I'm not sure if that's what happened with yours.
M.D. Vaden
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Nov-01-2004 at 9:43am
I have a lovely weeping Japanese maple (Acer palmatum dissectum 'Viridis') that could be lovelier if I hadn't neglected its pruning for at least 2 years. It is so incredibly dense and twiggy that is looks like a giant green mushroom in leaf and a twiggy mess when bare. I've stared at it some trying to figure out where to begin the pruning, but other than removing the most errant branches growing far over the front door approach, I haven't done much. I have branches growing from the top center that are growing more upward than downward, detracting from its shape. If I prune them out, the top of the tree is bare of leafy branches, which doesn't seem like a good idea. I know a friend who uses the Japanese method of training (weighted string or wire guiding growth) but I've never tried this.
I will start my pruning with the removal of dead, damaged, inward or crossing branches but after that, do you have any tips to help guide me and my mad clippers? TIA!
mdvaden
Location: Oregon, Western
Posted: Nov-01-2004 at 1:00pm
About all I can add for the weeping Jap. maples is to start from below and inside primarily.
Then I thin and correct the canopy next - a little.
It's ideal when no exterior growing limb needs to be removed, but if you need to remove an odd branch, try to cut it back to a set of buds at a node rather than cutting it off intirely.
Some people try to cut back oddballs and end up with worse.
If you skipped a pruning, it may take 2 years to get in back in shape.
M.D. Vaden
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Nov-01-2004 at 1:16pm
Start from below and inside . . . I think I understand. I want a tiered effect, not a lollipop but it definitely needs thinning. I'll start here and then see what is left for its final shape. It will be a little tricky figuring out how to maintain a nice shape without any major branches making headway far into our front walk. (It was planted too closely to the walkway because, I confess, I was suffering from size denial). I'll sit and stare at it and hopefully, like the hunk of marble that produced David for Michaelangelo, the tree will reveal its form to me. :-)
I realize it will take more than one pruning to whip it into shape but with your guidance, I have some idea how to proceed. Thanks for the reminder about cutting back to leaf node. It's what I always try to do. Thanks for your help!
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners) and Wendy Tweton