How to Prune Shade Trees

Get the canopy of shade you want over your home, patio, kids' playground and garden beds by pruning shade trees properly. Start with young trees and establish their classic shape, then keep established trees healthy by pruning to maintain them.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Anvil Pruners
• Bypass Pruners
• Lopping Shears
• Pruning Saws

1. Know your goals for a great shade tree - sturdy, straight trunks and limbs that reach up and out to create a canopy of shade. Don't be afraid to prune a young tree to shape it right so that, later, more radical pruning won't be necessary.
2. Visualize your tree's native shape and work with it, not against it - see the tree as it will be at maturity. Make each pruning cut effective and prune as little as possible to accomplish your goal of a sturdy shade canopy.
3. Choose the right tool for your job: bypass or anvil pruners for stems up to 1/2 inch in diameter, loppers for branches up to an inch, and folding saws and bow saws for larger branches and trunks. The right-sized tool lets you cut, not rip, the plant tissue - tearing bark and cambium exposes the plant to pest invasions.
4. Prune roots when you plant bare-root trees or if container-grown trees are potbound. Trim about an inch off bare roots or make a half-inch cut straight down each side of a tight rootball to encourage tiny feeder roots to grow.
5. Evaluate the top growth on your tree at planting time - cut out any broken, dead or diseased branches and shape what's left into a miniature version of its maturity. Choose one main trunk - the central leader - for your shade tree and trim others away while the tree is young, at least within the first three years after you plant it.
6. Thin the top branches at planting time to stimulate new growth, and cut out up to one third of the stems if necessary to balance pruned roots. In the first seasons, cut out crossed branches and those shooting straight up when they should curve out - make clean cuts at a slight angle that sheds water away from the cut surface to reduce the possibility of disease invasions.
7. Got a tree with a sharp V-shaped crotch between two main trunks that weakens the tree? Saw out trunks up to four inches in diameter during the dormant season for fastest recovery, then use loppers and anvil pruners to even out the top growth so it doesn't lean to one side.
8. Prune out wayward branches in mature trees to keep the profile intact, and tip-prune the canopy every few years to encourage new growth. Use a pole pruner whenever possible for pruning tall trees rather than standing on a ladder with your bow saw - the cuts will be neater and you'll be safer.
9. Cut out damaged limbs caused by storms or pests - prune whatever you must as soon as possible for best recovery. Remember to then balance those cuts on the rest of the tree.

Tips & Warnings

• Prune slowly at first - make a few cuts, step back and look at your work before going on.
• Sharpen pruners before each use - slide your file across the blade in one direction only going away from you for safe, effective sharpening.
• Keep pruners clean - wipe blades with an oily rag after using and store out of the weather.
• Pruning paint seals in the pests and disease-causing pathogens rather than excluding them - don't use these products!
• Chainsaws are for cutting down trees, not pruning them!

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