Pruning Mature Trees – The Importance of Tree Trimming Service in Grand Prairie
Tree trimming is considered a horticultural practice, which improves the growth and form of a tree. Based on science, tree trimming is a preventive maintenance that increases the longevity of a tree. Even though nature has its own way of pruning a tree, a tree trimming service can maintain its aesthetics and structural form. The service is usually performed on landscape trees in order to give them a strong structure.
Reasons for Hiring a Tree Trimming Service
Each branch of a tree has the potential of changing a tree’s growth. Therefore, branches should only be removed if they are severely damaged.
Promoting Tree Health
- By removing tree branches, which rub together
- By removing dying or dead tree branches that are injured by insect infestation, storms, animals, disease or any other mechanical damage
- By removing branch stubs
- By removing a tree’s thinning crowns to promote airflow
Tree Maintenance
- To encourage fruit and flower development
- To maintain the tree’s true or desired form
- To maintain a thick hedge
Improving Tree Appearance
Tree trimming service professionals in Grand Prairie know how tight geometrical trimming of a tree can affect its fruit or flower growth. This is why trees are only trimmed to:
- Maintain shape and size
- Keep the shrubs growth well-proportioned
- Remove dead branches, suckers and waterspouts
Protecting People and Your Property
- Removing weak tree branches that hang over parking areas, outside windows and sidewalks
- Taking down hazardous trees
- Trimming branches that obscure your home’s entry
The main reason why people you should opt for tree trimming service is to avoid suckering and stubs that cause weak limbs growth. Tree trimming service professionals know the biology of a tree and hence they can trim a tree accordingly to maintain both, a tree’s aesthetics and the landscapes’ economical value.
Trimming Tree Crowns for Better Height and Growth
Trimming the crowns of a tree is the most effective way of ensuring its steady growth. Tree trimming professionals in Grand Prairie perform different types of crown trimming to maintain the tree’s natural health and form.
Four Common Tree Trimming Types
- Crown Cleaning – Removing dying or dead wood from the top of the tree.
- Crown Raising – Removing stubs and lower branches that come out from the side of the tree. This creates clear paths for lawns, streets, sidewalks, etc.
- Crown Thinning – Removing only weak branches from the top of the tree. This promotes air flow and light penetration towards the crown and helps develop strong branches.
- Crown Reduction – This is mostly done to reduce the height of a tree. Compared to tree topping, crown reduction trimming removes branches that are close to other branches thus, preventing stubs. Mostly, crown trimming is done when mature trees are in danger of falling.
Making Proper Trimming Cuts
Trimming a tree branch is a delicate process. One improper cut can form a stub and affect the tree’s branch tissues. This is where tree trimming service comes in handy. Such a huge task can only be performed by professionals. These experts cut the dying branch outside its collar.
If the branch limb is too large to be removed in the first cut, the branch’s weight is reduced by making two additional cuts. The first cut is on top of the branch while the second is made underneath it. Once the branch’s weight is reduced, a third cut is placed outside the collar which severs the weak branch from the stem. This technique ensures that no tear will occur in the bark during the cut. The third cut can then be covered with latex to prevent any disease from forming on to the branch collar.
When Is The Right Time for Tree Trimming?
The best season when tree trimming service is performed is at the end of winter. This gives the wounds a small exposure window and when spring arrives, the sealing process starts. The trimming process is best done late in winter because the leaves are no longer obscuring the tree’s branches. The growth of a tree is maximized if the trimming is done during spring flush.
Trees such as birches and maples ‘bleed’ (tree wounds turn red) when they are trimmed too early. If the trees are trimmed right after spring, that also affects the growth of the tree. In spring, the trees produce enough energy to grow large foliage and if this foliage is trimmed early, the tree branches become weak.
This makes the wounds susceptible to oak wilt, a disease which causes the leaves to turn yellow and the tree stump to die. Therefore, tree trimming is mostly done before or in between the season of spring.
How Oak Wilt Disease Is Avoided
- Tree trimming service in Grand Prairie is not performed from April till the end of October. During this time, the wounds are concealed either with latex or paint. This stops the strong odor of freshly cut wood, to which beetles are attracted.
- To prevent stem cankers, trees with flowers are trimmed in late winter. These trees can also be trimmed in summer if the weather condition remains clear with no humidity or rain.
- Fruit trees such as apples and cranberries are trimmed in early February. If these trees are trimmed during summer or spring, there are chances of infection. One such disease is ‘fire blight’, which scorches the leaves and gives them a burned appearance.
In fall, tree trimming service is mostly avoided because the wounds from the trim have a low healing rate, which makes it susceptible to all kinds of diseases. In most cases, fungus gets deep into the tree’s tissues and makes it dead from the root.
Tree trimming is a difficult and dangerous task, which should only be performed by professionals. These experts have the right tools, which makes the trimming process easy. The main objective of trimming is to make the tree strong and healthy, and to maintain its beauty.