Is this the best time to prune your trees and shrubs?

Pruning, or cutting back is necessary to keep your valuable trees, shrubs and hedges healthy and under control.  If left to grow without regular maintenance, trees and shrubbery will take away from your home’s curb appeal instead of adding to it. Besides the visual appeal, a study by Money Magazine indicates that when it comes to the resale home market, home owners can realize a 200% return on money invested in good landscaping. 

Upkeep of the plant life surrounding your home can be done any time of year.  Fall is a great time to take inventory of the growth that’s occurred over the summer.  Fall clean-up is underway, so why not include the extra twigs and branches from pruning. 

You can always call a professional arborist to assist with pruning, but with the proper tools and some basic knowledge, doing-it-yourself in the crisp fall air could be very satisfying. 

Autumn Pruning 

As mentioned, you can sharpen the shears and prune at any time, but cutting back at more specific times of the year will help invigorate your trees, bushes and hedges and encourage new growth.  Mid-fall is the beginning of the dormant season for perennial plants. Trees such as maple and birch are ideal fall pruning candidates because they over produce in the winter.  If you have crabapple trees or fast-growing poplars, or spruce and juniper trees, you might want to wait until after Christmas. 

Here are some other reasons why fall is a good time to prune: 

• There are no new buds on hedges, like cotoneasters, so you’re not removing new life.
• Pests or fungal diseases are also dormant, so removing branches will remove them as well.
• Reviewing your trees and shrubs once the leaves have fallen will give you an accurate picture of what needs to be removed or shaped
• With fewer branches to “feed” once spring comes, roots will have more energy to support new life. 

Why cutting back makes sense

Besides making your yard and your home look more attractive, you should always trim hedges and prune trees at least annually.

• To allow branches to grow stronger
• To prevent tree rot due to moisture or insects and to keep pest infestations from spreading
• To reduce the height and prevent damage during wild weather events (think SNOWtember in Calgary)
• To keep branches away from power lines and your home
• To produce more greenery next season 

DIY is easy 

Doing the actual work is not that difficult.  The hard part is making sure you’re not causing more harm to your trees and shrubs, than good.  The goal of pruning should be to rid unwanted twigs and branches while protecting the trunk or stem of your bushes.  Follow these guidelines to do the job well: 

• Cut on an angle, close to the collar of the branch making sure you don’t cut past it.
• Cut branches in 3 or 4 parts instead of cutting off one large branch. This will ensure that your cut by the trunk doesn’t splinter under the weight of the branch.
• After a cut use a pruning sealer which will prevent disease or insects from penetrating the tree through the cut.
• Hedges can be a challenge.  Prune by hand before you take shears or a power hedge trimmer to it to thin it out.  Then cut in an A-line so the top is narrower than the bottom.

Should you call a professional?

Get help when: 

• Pruning or cutting back is close to overhead power lines.
• Trimming very large trees or branches that have been damaged by storms.
• When you have to “over reach” to get at certain parts of your trees.  Don’t risk it.
• You have enthusiasm but don’t have any idea where to start.