Trimming Trees in the north

[Lynden-Jeff]

Hey,

I am new to the business and I have started out as a general lawn maintenance company. Today I helped a friends dad prune a bunch of trees and he basically just wanted to cut all the branches off up to 10 FT for mowing and light/water reasons. Is this the proper thing to do? Is there a proper way to prune/time of the year? I know very very little about trees so any advice/literature would be great.

Thanks
Jeff

P.S Im in Southern Ontario.

[jameson]

Some variables, but here are a couple good rules of thumb:

Deciduous trees should be pruned in late winter early spring (when dormant some are heavy bleeders/others like elm attract a lot of nasty insects) - before budding.

Conifers/Evergreens pruned in early spring or late summer (example: to control candles on pines - like bonsai).

Removal of dead and diseased growth any time of year.

Light pruning can be done for shape without harm.

Sharp secatuers/loppers/good hand saw and your off to the races. Most Vo-techs/Community Colleges offer courses on pruning.

[barefootlawnsandlandscape]

jameson gave all good advice. One thing I would add is that you should never take more than 30% of the branches.

[Rollacosta]

JAMESON you are correct with all your list other than the first piece of advise,you can in fact prune deciduous trees anytime of year ,bleeding doesn't harm the tree in any way..

I would recomend anyone wanting to trim trees to go on a short course to learn the proper way.

Prunning a tree to a height of 10' is just as bad as topping a tree,a tree needs it's lower branches as well as the higher ones.

[Groundspro]

Check this site out, this will give you all you need to learn.

http://www.isa-arbor.com/

Enjoy!:usflag: