Is There A Wrong Way To Trim A Tree?
Pruning mistakes are a very common thing, especially in homeowners who live in tight neighborhoods with large trees. They think to themselves, “might as well just trim that single limb back myself”. While this can save you time and money, it will cost you in the long run when the tree needs more intensive work to nurse it back to health after a bad pruning cut. Here are a couple of example of what NOT to do when trimming trees in Watkinsville:
Flush Cuts
Tree trimming is not as simple as it looks and requires a certain technique in order to prevent opening up the tree to diseases and pests. A lot of times, we see homeowners or uneducated tree service workers in Watkinsville performing flush cuts on trees in an attempt to prune them back. Flush cuts, as shown above, is a term used to describe a cut that goes into the branch collar of the tree, removing the ability for the tree to close the wound properly. Depending on the age, health and type of tree, it could end in the decline of the tree altogether. In many other cases, the tree cannot heal the wound and it eventually dies from insect and pest invasions and disease.
Knob/Stub Cuts
This picture isn’t the best in depicting the eye sore that comes from chopping the branches off into knobs. However, you can see that they didn’t make the cut close enough to the branch collar, therefore the tree won’t be able to heal this pruning cut either. The good news is, you can always take more off and correct your prune, whereas a flush cut cannot be fixed. So, with that being said, start small and be very vigilant in where your shears lie in comparison to the branch collar before making any cuts.
The absolute safest way to prune back your tree in Watkinsville without damaging it, is to call a certified Arborist at North American Tree Service and ask for a free estimate on tree trimmers in Watkinsville. We are knowledgeable and can give you tips and tricks on the job for you to perform on your own. If you are interested in tree trimming in Watkinsville, please call us today!
