Let’s discuss advantages of pruning during the dormant season
here are several reasons why you should consider pruning your trees during the winter months rather than during the warm growing season.
Tree growth and activity slows during the winter months, and while trees do not stop growing, the detrimental impacts of pruning tend to be less significant while dormant.
Insect and pathogen activity is minimal during the winter months. This is why we only prune certain species such as apple and oak during the winter. Fungal and bacterial infections are transmitted far easier in warmer temperatures and can cause infections that can threaten the health of your trees. While we can still can safely prune during the summer months, the risk of infection decreases as temperature and pathogen activity decreases.
Conservation of carbohydrates and resources within your tree is maximized by pruning while the tree is not actively photosynthesizing. When we remove leaves and young tissue from trees we are removing valuable resources. While most trees can tolerate an a decrease in resources, it is best practice to minimize the live tissue removed from a tree while pruning. We work to find the right balance between achieving the goals of pruning while taking the fewest resources possible. Pruning during the dormant season allows us to take more and have a greater effect without causing a decline in resilience.
You might wonder how we can tell what is live and what is dead when there aren’t leaves on the trees, and I can say that any arborist you’d want in your trees really ought to be able to tell live from deadwood. Buds are the key!
These are only a couple of the many reasons why we stress the value of pruning during the winter. If you’d like to learn more, please call us for an estimate or consultation and I will be happy to dive deep into plant physiology with you!