Understanding Pest Control For Trees

Branches that break off trees in storms or due to the weight of excess growth can cause damage and make trees vulnerable to problems like insects and disease. To protect your trees from problems and ensure they stay healthy and attractive, you want to prune them regularly to ensure healthy growth. The following tree pruning tips will help protect trees from storm damage and broken branches that make them susceptible to unhealthy problems:

1. Protect Trees From Lightening and Utility Lines by Trimming Them Back 

Lightning is a danger for trees that can be reduced by good pruning practices. If you have trees near any utility lines, make sure that the branches are cut back a safe distance to prevent lightning from striking them. In addition, make sure that the canopy is well-pruned to reduce the vulnerability of trees to lightning strikes.

2. Reduce Wind Damage by Thinning the Canopy of Larger Old Growth Trees

Wind can cause serious damage to trees during severe weather, which can be worse when the canopy of a tree has excess growth and has not been trimmed. During the early spring months, you will want to thin the canopy and give your trees a healthy shape to reduce their vulnerability during high winds. This helps to reduce the weight the branches support, as well as allows wind to pass through the canopy during severe weather.

3. Removing the Large and Awkward Branches That Are Susceptible to Breaking

Trees branches will naturally grow out in search of light, water, and nutrients. This can sometimes lead to older branches growing out past the crown of the tree and make them vulnerable to breaking during wind and storms. Trim the awkward branches back and give the tree canopy a healthy shape to prevent damage from storms or due to branches breaking under their own weight.

4. Preventing Broken Branches by Pruning Trees With Heavy Fruits and Foliage Growth

During the spring months, new growth and fruits will start coming in on trees. If you have fruit trees, trim the branches back in the early spring to make harvesting fruits easier and to prevent the excessive weight of growth from breaking branches. If you have tree species with larger foliage, it is a good idea to cut these trees back in early spring too, to protect them from damage due to new growth weighing down branches.

These are some tree pruning tips that will help to protect trees from storm damage and broken branches. If you have trees that have unhealthy growth, contact a tree service for help with professional tree trimming to prevent damage during storms or due to heavy growth.