How to Trim a Big Tree

Many people have trees on their property that were either there when the house was built or bought, or added because the homeowner got a good price at the garden shop, or just thought a particular tree was pretty.

However, it is often the case that those trees do not get properly trimmed, mainly because most people think trimming trees is an art only to be performed by tree surgeons. While professionals are certainly in order for very large or diseased trees that need trimming, most people can do it themselves to help trees grow gracefully and present the fewest problems when it comes to mowing grass or even moving around the yard. Tree trimming or pruning is needed for clearance, and to enhance the shapely growth of the tree as well.

Overcome Fear of Pruning

Tree trimming can remove up to 25 percent of a tree’s live branches and foliage without hurting a tree’s chance to continue to grow healthy and strong. How the trimmer removes those branches, however, could mean the difference between long-term health and insect infestation.

Although it won’t harm the tree to remove small branches any time of year, any serious trimming and pruning should be done in the late winter or early spring, when the sap rising will flow toward the place where the branch was removed, and help prevent insects from entering the trunk.

How to Prune a Tree

Full-grown trees should have lowest branches no closer to the ground than about six feet. Some trees will have bifurcated when they were young, often because large lower branches were not trimmed in time. Those might be difficult to trim for sufficient clearance that an adult can walk under them, and some of the lower branches that need to be removed will be quite large. Here’s a rule of thumb:

• If the branch that needs cutting is bigger around than a grown man’s forearm, it will need to be surgically removed, not just cut off.

That’s not as hard as it sounds. Rather than simply sawing down from the top, first notch the branch close to the tree on the bottom. Then, cut through from the top until the notch is reached. This method avoids, dragging a hunk of the trunk’s flesh away and tearing big strip of bark with it. Make the cut about 1/2 inch from the trunk.

The bark, whether the branch is small or large, will grow over time to cover the wound where you’ve removed the branch, protecting the inside of the tree from insect invasions.

To help the bark grow over the wound, cut branches off no more than about 1/2 inch from the trunk of the tree.

Pruning Tools

• For tiny shoots, use ordinary garden pruners, either the bypass or anvil type.
• For small branches, use loppers; these look like bypass pruners only on long handles for leverage and reach.
• Large branches, those bigger around then an adult thumb, will require a pruning saw.
• Branches larger around than a man’s forearm will require a chain saw. In the case of these large branches, it might be prudent to call in a tree surgeon, or arborist.

Reasons to Trim Trees Early and Often

For newly planted trees, take the time to trim off small branches sprouting from the growing trunk as it matures. This will help the tree grow to its full height with its lowest branches symmetrical and far enough from the ground for adults to walk under easily.

Here are more tips for making the trees in your yard offer shade and also enhance the appearance of your home:

• Avoid planting new trees in the shade of an older one. They have a greater chance of growing crooked as they seek the sun.
• If you like trees with low-hanging branches, save those for places in your yard that will not be likely to conceal the beauty of the house, or offer cover to those who might seek to harm you or your family, or enter your home illegally.
• Avoid planting trees on a steep hill; their roots will necessarily be shallow on the downhill side, making them more likely to blow over in big storms. If you wish the privacy afforded by foliage in such areas, various evergreen bushes would offer much the same advantages without the chance of harming your landscaping, your house, or people.

Natural Beauty is not Completely Natural

There is little more satisfying in nature than a lovely tree. It offers shade, a home for squirrels and birds, and sometimes fruit or nuts as well, or flowers in springtime. But take the time to trim your trees so that you enhance the rest of your landscape and allow easy movement around your yard. Do it right, and there is little chance you’ll do your trees any harm, and every chance that you’ll help them grow straight, healthy and strong.

For More Information:

For diagrams and specific information geared to specific trees or pruning problems, click here.

For types of trees and what shape they should have, click here.