Pruning plays a significant role in farming. When you grow your trees, plants and shrubs, you don’t want them to grow unattended, blocking roads. This is where pruning comes to help. Pruning is the process in which you cut off the dead or overgrown branches of your trees or plants in order to promote its healthy growth. For pruning, the best device you need to possess is a pruning shear. For reviews and details regarding the best pruning shear read: http://www.farmhydroponics.com/hydroponics-store/best-pruning-shears.
Let us now take a look at how to prune trees.
- Crown thinning
As the name suggests, crown thinning is the process of shaping the tree’s crown. The tree’s branches are selected from its crown while making sure that the shape of the crown is not affected. These branches are then pruned or cut off. Crown thinning improves both air circulation and light penetration within the tree and so helps in its growth. But be advised, if you cut too many branches, it can result contributing to the tree’s poor structure and so it won’t be possible for pruning in the coming years.
- Crown lifting
Crown lifting is performed to cut a tree’s lower branches; the ones that disrupt the roads or pathways. In this type of pruning, the lower branches of a tree’s crown are cut off. One thing that should be kept in mind is that you should leave a clear stem without leaves as these play an important role in determining how the tree sways in the wind. Crown lifting allows more light to pass beneath the tree’s crown.
- Crown reduction
This type of pruning is performed on trees that take up a lot of space. In crown reduction, the branches that promote growth in the tree’s crown are cut off. One thing about crown reduction is that when cut off, there are high probabilities that the branch ends get decayed. Hence, this pruning technique is advised only for conifers and birches – the tree’s in the shape of a pyramid. Also, crown reduction is to be considered only if the crown of the tree takes up a huge amount of space.
- Pollarding
This pruning technique is first done when the tree is young and then it is carried out at regular intervals of the tree’s life.
Trees need pruning at some intervals during their lives. This helps them get their crowns to be in shape, improve air circulation and also light penetration. However, pruning should be done carefully without harming the growth of the tree by using high quality pruning shears. There are several brands and types available in the market. Read http://www.farmhydroponics.com/hydroponics-store/best-pruning-shears, a review on the best pruning shear.