Talking Trees with Davey Tree

Dormant Pruning - Why Prune Now?

February 03, 2022 The Davey Tree Expert Company Season 2 Episode 5
Talking Trees with Davey Tree
Dormant Pruning - Why Prune Now?
Show Notes Transcript

Robert Spartz from Davey's Quad Cities office talks about why pruning trees in the dormant season is the best choice, and how to safely prune your own trees.

In this episode we cover:

  • Dormant pruning (0:47)
  • Knowing if you or an expert should prune (3:34)
  • How arborists learn to prune (4:37)
  • Pruning mistakes (6:26) (14:56)
  • Three step method (7:38)
  • Tools for pruning (9:26)
  • Sharpening tools (10:56)
  • Are there trees that don't like dormant pruning? (11:33)
  • How Robert started his job as an arborist (12:54)

To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code.

To learn more about pruning during the dormant season, read our blog, Winter Tree Pruning: Young Trees, Fruit Trees, Spring Flowering Trees.
To learn more about pruning outside of the dormant season, read our blog, Pruning Trees in the Spring: Is it OK to Do? and Can You Prune or Cut Trees Limbs in the Summer?
To learn more about pruning tools, read our blog, 3 Best Tree Trimming Tools to Own.

Connect with Davey Tree on social media:
Twitter: @DaveyTree
Facebook: @DaveyTree
Instagram: @daveytree
YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company
LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company

Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com. We want to hear from you!

Doug Oster: Welcome to the Davey Tree Expert Company's podcast, Talking Trees. I'm your host, Doug Oster. Each week, our expert arborists share advice on seasonal tree care, how to make your trees thrive, arborists' favorite trees, and much, much more. Tune in every Thursday to learn more because here at the Talking Trees podcast, we know trees are the answer. I'm joined this week by Robert Spartz. He's a district manager for the Davey Tree Expert Company. It's called the Quad Cities Office in Iowa, but it's not just Iowa, right, Robert?

Robert Spartz: That's correct, yes. We are located around four towns, which are Davenport, Bettendorf, that are the Iowa side, and Rock Island and Moline, which encompass the Illinois side.

Doug: Today we're talking all about dormant pruning. Why are we pruning this time of the year?

Robert: There are some major benefits that you can take from pruning during the dormant season. Number one for us as arborists is going to be the better visibility. Being able to look at the tree, get a clearer picture of what needs to be pruned, and then also make determinations on what's diseased and what areas could be possibly problematic in the tree moving forward into the future when we start to talk about storms and things of that nature, trying to prevent future damage to the tree itself. Other reasons as well, pruning during the dormant season also helps control disease problems as well. The tree is, when you prune it during the winter, the sealing process is already starting to occur prematurely before spring hits. The tree is starting to activate and the buds are starting to swell and things like that. The tree is sealing up early, so that way it prevents pathogens from being able to get into the tree itself, which is also going to detract insects and things like that from getting in or wanting to attack the tree itself. The healing process as well is going to be faster. That is going to help, like I said, with sealing those wounds, those things, and also, from a homeowner standpoint, doing this type of work with their landscape beds and things, you're going to be able to protect those a little bit better. Especially in the northern regions where we get snowfall or frozen ground, those are going to be preferential times to get some good pruning done. That way, we're not smashing your hostas, your perennials, and things like that, going to be major beneficial there. It also saves time and money as well along with that. Being able to prune when there's not a bunch of leaves in the way, makes it really hard to see and get and climb through trees and even to get an aerial lift or things like that through a tree to prune. Those are some of the main reasons there.

Doug: Without leaves on the branches also, does that make it easier because there's not as much weight on there or I don't have that right?

Robert: Not 100%. It's more about, just, without leaves on there, they're going to fall through the tree a little bit easier when you prune them out. There's not going to be as much in the way, makes it easier to ascend and descend the tree as well, as far as that goes.

Doug: One thing we often talk about on the Talking Trees podcast is homeowners never get up on a ladder and trying to do pruning on your own, but how do I know as a homeowner, whether I can prune it or I should have an expert from Davey Tree prune this tree?

Robert: Always good to have a certified arborist come out and inspect your trees prior to making those kinds of decisions and maybe helping you along the road. A lot of homeowners will have their own tools, pole pruners, and things of that sort. When the size gets too big and too high, if you have to get onto a ladder, definitely, you should be calling a professional. You can go peruse through YouTube and watch some pretty wild videos there, and just see some horrific stories and things that have happened. I would say your first step would be to definitely go call a certified arborist and have them come out and take a look at the trees and make an assessment.

Doug: Tell me a little bit about how you learned to prune because, to me, and I always say this, and not everyone agrees with me, I say it's part science, part art, but maybe you won't agree with that. How do you learn how to do it? I don't think you can do it from just looking at a book. I think you have to have somebody there showing you what comes out, what stays, how do you know?

Robert: Yes, there is, some of it I would say, as you're first getting started, is a little bit of guesswork. A little bit of learning curve here and there. Just, there's main things that you're looking for that are going to be identifiable for homeowners or even for climbing arborists and things like that. Your main stuff is going to be obviously deadwood, anything that doesn't have any active buds on it or doesn't have any leaves on it during the growing season. crossing and rubbing branches are ones that are going to be soon, crossing and rubbing are always going to be that.

Then, sucker growth sometimes is an indication, but that is also an indication too, that the tree is trying to recover energy that's lost. Taking that growth off the tree isn't always recommended, depending on case-by-case basis. Other things too are just, when you're looking at a canopy and limbs are getting crowded and they're getting full and there's not enough area for wind to evenly flow through that tree, you definitely want to look at-- That's where it's more like guesswork. There's no real specific limb that needs to come off. You got to thin it out. There's a few that you need to take out in that area and then want to balance it out on the other side so that the tree is not structurally off-kilter.

Doug: I know we have both seen trees basically ruined by bad pruning.

Robert: Oh, there's no doubt about that.

Doug: [laughs] Talk about showing up at a property and seeing something that's been improperly pruned for a long time. I know it's case by case, but what percentage can you save? Just from your experience going out and seeing trees pruned badly, is it a lost cause usually, or is there a time where you go and you're 50-50, or what do you think?

Robert: Our most common type of pruning that we see that's done poorly is going to be what we would call topping, Those are going to be very hard to correct, but, it's a type of pruning that we call restorative pruning, and it takes some time. It's not something that over one pruning session you're going to fix and make the tree better again. It's going to take several years of maybe once every year or once every couple years coming back to that tree and correcting the mistakes that have been made in the past.

Doug: Let's go back to homeowners. We're on the ground. We've got a small branch that we want to remove. Instead of just cutting right at the tree, I have learned from doing this podcast, you need more than one cut because if you cut it right next to the tree, that branch could just tear the bark off. Is that right?

Robert: Yes, no, that is 100% correct. Our typical pruning method is going to be called the three-step method where you're making three cuts. Your first cut is always going to be the underside of the branch. You're basically looking at about going roughly around 50%, half through the bottom of it, to prevent that tear from happening. Your first step, obviously, like I said, is the undercut. Then you're going to make a top cut, which is a little bit further out. Don't want it too far out, but don't want it too close either. That's when you need to be careful because that is going to cause the branch to come down very suddenly.

When you start cutting through that, it's going to make more of a popping action and the branch is going to just drop. Then, the third step of that cut would be to make your final cut, which is where your branch collar and your branch bark ridge meet on the tree. That's when you start talking about how to properly prune a branch and where you make your final cut for that limb or that leader or whatever it is you're pruning on that tree. There is, if you're going to do some research on how to properly prune, researching that branch bark ridge and that branch bark collar are very important into the sealing process and making sure that tree does heal properly.

Doug: Let's talk about proper tools. If you are doing this at home, your feet are on the ground, you have small branches, there's the right kind of saw and the wrong kind of saw. I've seen people out when I'm driving, I'm sure you have too. You're driving by and you see some guy out there with one of those big old-fashioned saws. That's not the right kind of saw to use.

Robert: Right. Yes, having the right tool for the right job is always something that's going to be stressed and important. When you're just pruning the lower hanging branches, having

some type of pole saw or pole pruner to be able to snip those off and do them properly and make clean cuts not jagged cuts, not leaving stubs, which is probably the number one thing that I see homeowners make as a mistake is it's either they're cutting it too close or they're cutting it too far away. They don't really understand the medium between that, so, really getting into that. Again like I said, if you're going to be on a ladder, don't, but then having a small chainsaw that's capable for the size of limb that you're taking off definitely is something that you should think about. Most of the time, for us, we're using hand saws to make smaller cuts on limbs that are off the trunk if they're low or we're using a pole saw, a pole pruner, or things like that.

Doug: Talk about the importance of sharp tools.

Robert: No doubt about that. You're going to save yourself a lot of energy by having your tools properly tuned and sharpened. If it's a chainsaw, following the proper guidelines to make sure that that chain is sharp. Dull saws can also cause kickback, which could result in injury as well, too. Assessing your equipment before you get started and making sure that it's up to snuff for what you're doing is always a recommended option there.

Doug: What kind of trees are we not pruning in this dormant season?

Robert: Very few trees do not like dormant pruning. Conversely, there is specific trees that will only be pruned during the winter for us as well, so, oak trees. All genuses of oaks are going to be required to be pruned during the winter. All elm trees should be pruned during the winter as well, but as far as that goes unless you're unable to determine bud growth or what's healthy and what's not healthy, you should be pruning during the winter as far as best time, but just to piggyback off that real quick, when you're talking about pruning when you get to the springtime and trees are putting all this energy out and their the buds are swelling and their leaves are about ready to pop, that is not the time to prune.

The tree has expended a lot of energy and built up a lot of time here to put these new leaves out. The best thing to do at that point is to wait until full leaf expansion and the leaves are the full size, and then look at pruning in the either late spring or early summer at that point.

Doug: Tell me a little bit about how you got into this. Why is this the right job for you?

Robert: I initially went to school at a community college for turf grass management. I was originally going to go into golf course maintenance as weird as that sounds, is where I ended up now but obviously a related field. Did a couple internships and realized it wasn't for me. At the time I was in my trees course going through my horticulture classes and just had fallen in love with it. Every day that I would show up to school, it was the class I was the most excited about. It was what I spent my most time reading about, learning about. We had a group of friends in the college there that all we did was walk around campus. Walk around, go find a park to park at.

Just walk around and look at trees and see who could identify the most correctly and do those types of things. When time came, Davey Tree had actually sent out a crew of people out to our office, one of them being Don Rapallo who is still working for Davey Tree and did a presentation on urban forestry. At that point, everything just clicked in my mind. For me, I had really no idea at the time that urban forestry and the care of residential homeowners' trees was a thing. Like I said, I grew up in a population 500 town. Our cure for trees was either cut them down or leave them alone. Unless something happened to it, you weren't really doing any maintenance to it. I was really unaware of the time and jobs that could be available in this field. Awareness is definitely something that is being brought upon more frequently nowadays.

Doug: Let's talk a little bit about the number one mistakes that you see in pruning. It's not just from homeowners. Oh. My son just bought a house, and I got in trouble because when I went there the first day they moved in, I started looking at the maple trees. Somebody had been coming every year and trimming the tops of those maple trees off. Let's start with topping.

Robert: Yes. Number one mistake you can make for a tree, not only are you opening that tree to a lot of future problems, disease and insect and rot, decay of that limb or leader, wherever you're making those pruning cuts back to, but the tree is also going to respond in a way that we don't want it to respond. That is, it's going to put out a whole lot of shoots in the same area. When that happens all these are never going to get pruned again or the likelihood of them ever getting pruned again is going to be very low, and they're all going to start to just grow and smash into each other.

Then next thing you know we've got a 50-mile-per-hour windstorm moving through, and it's just busting out limbs left and right all over the place. Again, it is the worst possible outcome that you could have for a tree is the top of tree. That's, people ask about it. I educate them on it and make sure that let them know that we want to do things the right way and maybe we could look at another way of accomplishing what they're wanting to do. There is an effective point of a form of pruning that is reduction pruning, and so what you're doing is you're reducing that limb down to another limb that's coming off the side.

The basic structure of that is going to be that that limb that you're reducing it to needs to be one-third the size of the limb of where you're cutting that off. That should be something that you would look at instead of topping as far as pruning goes.

Doug: I got in trouble because I sat there at the kitchen table and did a 10-minute diatribe about, "How could anyone do this to a tree? I can't believe they were coming here every year doing this," until finally, my daughter-in-law said, "We just moved in." [laughs] Does that happen to you as an expert when you see something like that, that is something that you see right off the bat and you start going off on it? I have to watch myself.

Robert: A lot of residential homeowners that I deal with now are secondary homeowners, so even when I tell them what's happened to this tree in the past, they had no idea. The tree, it's been like that for so long, and it's really hard for them to tell. Again, stressing the importance of getting a certified arborist out to help identify these things and really get an eye on it just to say, "Hey, these are the problems that you could be running into the future if we don't take action now." That's what would really be my recommendation. I don't like to harp on anybody on the decisions they made. I like to try to come up with an action plan and what we can do to help them moving forward. We can't change what they've already done.

Doug: Robert, I wish you would have been there so you could have shut me up. All right, Robert, great information. This is the time to get your trees pruned, and I sure appreciate your time. That was a lot of fun.

Robert: Yes, appreciate it, Doug. Thank you so much for having me.

Doug: This is the perfect time for me to get out and trim up some of those small trees before the garden takes all my time this spring. Next week, it's all about privacy. As many of us have spent more time at home, we're looking for shrubs and trees that are easy to grow and make great neighbors too. Tune in every Thursday to the Talking Trees podcast from the Davey Tree Expert Company. I'm your host, Doug Oster. Do me a favor. Subscribe to the podcast. I hope you're having as much fun listening as I am hosting. As always, we like to remind you on the Talking Trees podcast; trees are the answer.

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