Pruning / Trimming

Pruning is the most common tree maintenance procedure.  Forest trees grow quite well with little or no pruning, but in landscape situations, tree pruning is often desirable or necessary to remove dead branches, improve tree structure, enhance vigor, or maintain safety.

Desoto Tree Service can prune your trees to keep them healthy, invigorated and beautiful.  Selective pruning of a tree is a highly skilled endeavor, and must be performed by only the most experienced and highly trained personnel. Pruning cuts must be made with an understanding of how the tree will respond to the cut. Improper pruning can cause damage which continues for the life of the tree.

Various methods and techniques of pruning are used by arborists. The most common are: Crown cleaning, which is the removal of dead, diseased, crowded, weakly attached, low-vigor branches and water sprouts from a tree crown. Crown thinning includes "crown cleaning" as well as selective removal of branches which increase light penetration and air movement though the crown, and to reduce weight.  Crown Reduction is used to reduce the size of a tree.

This is best accomplished by cutting limbs back to laterals that are at least 1/3 the size of the parent limb. This has also been referred to as drop-crotch pruning. This method will help maintain the structural integrity and natural form of the tree, and delay the time when it will need to be pruned again.

Please do not confuse this method with "topping", which is involves the cutting of limbs back to a stub, bud, or a lateral branch not large enough to assume the terminal role. This method is not recommended nor will we perform it, so please don't ask us to.

Crown Raising removes the lower branches of a tree in order to provide clearance for buildings, vehicles, pedestrians, and vistas. However, excessive removal of lower limbs should be avoided so that the development of trunk taper is not affected and structural stability is maintained.

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