How trees become old - keep low branches suppressed and small in comparison to trunk

Why prune | Tree structure | Pruning cuts | Prune at planting | Structural pruning | Sub-standard pruning | Is pruning needed
Raising the crown | Thinning the crown | Reducing the crown | Pruning home page

Most branches on young trees, such as the one shown on the right, should not remain on the tree for more than a few years. If they do, two things can happen. 1) Branches grow upright into the crown, become a sizable part of the crown but are long and therefore potentially weak. Managers are reluctant to removed them because a large wound will be created and a large part of the crown will be removed. 2) Branches grow laterally, they become large and obstruct passage or block views, and they have to be removed resulting in a large pruning wound on the trunk.

Mature trees eventually were replaced	Young replacement trees
	Tops of eight-year-old replacement trees are reaching the point where they are about even with the bottom of the crown of the original mature-sized trees. Thus, all existing branches on these trees are temporary and will be removed as the tree grows. Preventing these from growing upright or too large by rountinely shortening them with reduction cuts will ensure that pruning wounds are small when they are eventually removed from the trunk.
A nice set of mature trees in a prominent location. These eventually became over-mature, were removed, and replaced with new trees of the same species.

Tree structure home

[  Home  |  Tree Quality  |  Planting  |  Pruning  ]
[  Cue Cards  |  Tree Lists  |  Membership  |  Contact  ]