Trees are important members of our ecosystem and thankfully, more and more people are beginning to care about trees, their importance, and how to help them survive and stay healthy. Tree trimming is one of the most effective methods of ensuring your tree’s health and longevity.

In addition to enhancing the appearance of the tree, tree trimming is important to ensure the safety of lives and properties around the tree. A dead or diseased tree branch can be a hazard to the environment as it can fall during heavy winds or storms, causing damage to cars, homes, or even injure people. This article explains all that you need to know about trimming your trees to guarantee their health and prolonged existence.

When to Trim your Trees

To ensure the survival of a tree, it is important to know the best periods to trim the tree. Although many homeowners believe that the fall is the best time to trim their trees, they are wrong. Trimming a tree in the fall could significantly damage and even kill mature trees.

Although it is important to see an arborist before attempting to trim your tree, tree trimming should usually be done in mid-winter. Cutting overgrown branches is best done in dormancy season as it will encourage new growth as soon as the weather starts getting warm.

Also, attempting to trim big branches during summer can cause injuries and so, it must be done with great care and preferably by a professional.

How to Trim your Trees

Keeping in mind that uninformed methods of trimming can kill the tree, it is important to trim the tree using careful techniques that will not harm it. Before trimming, understand that each twig, branch, and trunk is a channel that carries water and nutrients to different parts of the tree. It is important not to obstruct major channels by cutting them off as this will negatively affect the tree.

Trees have buds at the edge of every branch, the direction of these buds will determine the direction in which the tree will grow. It is imperative to pick buds that are pointing outside of the tree while trimming and leave those buds pointing upwards. Buds growing on the interior part of the tree must also be left as attempting to cut them off could cause damage to the trunk of the tree.

Safety Tips while Trimming your Tree

The following are safety tips to consider while trimming your tree:

Protect yourself with gloves, boots, goggles, and hearing protection while trimming a tree.

Survey the area and remove all possible hazards before you begin to trim a tree

Climb trees using ropes or harnesses

Never anchor yourself to the branch you are cutting on

Never climb a wet tree.

Conclusion

Trimming a tree is very vital to its survival and health but it is also important to know the right methods of trimming that will avoid damage to the tree. All safety measures must be considered before attempting to trim a tree.