Trimming and pruning your trees is good for their health and appearance. It ensures that they grow into the shape that you want, it prevents branches from being overgrown, and it removes parts of a tree that may be diseased or damaged. Proper tree care involves more than just regular pruning, though; recently pruned trees require additional care as they recover and grow. Here are some tips that will help with that.

Pruning Wounds

While proper pruning is ultimately good for a tree’s health, it does create wounds that need to heal. Like any living thing, trees heal naturally from their wounds by growing new tissue over them. This growth stems from the branch collar, which is the swollen area on a tree trunk from which a branch grows. Professional arborists always leave branch collars in place and intact when they prune a tree. This causes minimal damage to the tree and enables it to heal from its wounds.

If a tree is pruned properly, its wounds shouldn’t need much additional care. Gardeners have traditionally applied wound dressings such as latex paint or creosote to pruning wounds, but most arborists now say that this is unnecessary and could harm the tree by trapping moisture in the wound and encouraging fungal growth. A tree that has been pruned to remove diseased branches may require fungicide or insecticide as a preventative measure, but this decision should be left to an arborist.

Providing Water

Pruning is very stressful for a tree, even when it’s done correctly. One of the best ways to combat this stress is to make sure that a recently pruned tree has plenty of water. Trees put out new shoots after pruning, and they will need the extra water to encourage proper growth.

When you water a recently pruned tree, check to make sure the soil around the tree isn’t too compact. If it is, the water will simply run away from the tree and not provide any real benefit. You can aerate the soil around the tree with a garden fork if you think it is too compact. If you have a fruit tree, you can also mix in a suitable fertilizer to better encourage new growth. Speak to an arborist to know what fertilizer will be best.

While you think that you can prune your trees yourself if you have the proper tools after watching some DIY videos on Instagram or YouTube, it’s always best to leave the job to a professional. They have the training and experience that lay people do not. Contact E Z Tree in Vallejo, CA for your trimming and pruning needs.