Pruning Trees

13 years ago

I am hoping I can get some advice on how/if I should prune/trim some trees I transplanted/planted last spring. All these trees are planted in our backyard. This is a landscaping project we started last spring with the help of some of the great people over on the "Landscaping Design" section of gardenweb:

This is a general layout of where the trees I'll reference below are planted.

The four pictures above are Redbuds (Cercis canadensis)we planted last spring (March 2012). They were bare root from Coldstream and were approximately 2' when planted. You can see they have more than doubled in size in the last year and really branched out. One or two may have to be moved slightly this coming spring. We are trying to create a "grove" or "woodsy" feel in this area. We will be adding a gate this spring (this is a front corner of our backyard) so eventually we'll have to prune a path through the redbuds to the gate.

The five pictures above are of a "grove" of river birches we planted along the north side of our backyard lot line. There are seven groups of three trees each. As you can see, they are in different stages of growth. Some of the birches (very tall) were donated by a generous gardenweb member last spring. The big clump (third picture down) was started about 5 years ago in our backyard as bare root trees. The rest of the trees (2-3' tall) were started last spring as bare roots from Coldstream. Here again we are trying to create a "grove" or "woodsy" feeling. All trees were doing well at the end of summer, with the bare roots doubling in size.

This picture is of a burr oak planted in the back northeast corner of the backyard. It was donated and transplanted from a local gardenweb member last March. It was doing fairly well last summer.

This picture is of a red oak (I think) planted in the back northeast corner of the backyard. It was donated and transplanted from a local gardenweb member last March. It was doing fairly well last summer.

This picture is of a hickory(I think) planted in the back northeast corner of the backyard. It was donated and transplanted from a local gardenweb member last March. This tree was not doing well last summer due to the drought. I am not sure if it is still alive.

I have never really pruned trees before besides our parkway burr oak. Do I prune any/some of these trees this year or do I wait until they grow/establish more? If I do prune, when? What do I prune? What kind of pruners do I use? Should I ferilize at all? What about winter watering? Any tips/advice will be greatly appreciated!

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Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
13 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
hey pm ...

too many pix.. for comments on any given tree ..

find the pic that looks like a tree with multiple suckers coming out of the ground ... maybe one of the birch pix???

make a new post.. and we can discuss that one ...

NEVER fert a tree.. IMHO ... unless a soil test indicates something is lacking in your soil.. and frankly man.. with those growth rates.. i dont know what could be lacking..

does you LOCAL GW peep.. know how to prune.. because onsite opinion would be best ...

i dont understand one of the first redbud pix.. where it looks like there are two trees within 2 or 3 feet of each other ... i dont understand how that relates to making a mini grove ...

last pic.. 2 leaders .. to low down.. pick one.. and cut back the second significantly.. so that first takes over vertical dominance ..

i have found.. over the years.. the less cutting.. for the first year or two ... the better, on transplants ... think of each new leaf as a food making machine to grow the roots.. to get the trees fully established.. along that line.. removing too much canopy.. would be counter-productive ...

but that would not stop me from doing some selective pruning for future shape .. but i am not flipping back and forth between 20 odd pix to discuss each ... hence the suggestions of a couple new post.. wherein we make suggestions on a specific tree.. and by the time we get thru 2 or 3.. you ought to be all set ...

but the default.. in the year after planting.. would be to leave them be.. for the most part ....

as to moving some of them.. in my z5 MI.. as soon as the ground thaws in late march.. thru april.. 6 to 8 weeks before things start to push leaves in mid may ... is when you move things ....

good luck

ken
wisconsitom
13 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I admit I just scanned this real quick, but what I'd recommend is just some very moderate "raising up". Remove one or two or three lower branches on those specimens which are not intended to retain branches right to the ground. No need to do much just yet. Better to do a little bit each year anyway than wait and then hit them hard.

Hand pruners and/or loppers should suffice for anything you've got to do at this time.

+oM
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Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
13 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
The big trees section just got my attention. What is the scale there? In a way I am worried about the oaks being a bit close, then again some competition and choices will probaly create thinner growing trees with less required pruning even if a decade from now you might have to pick just one and remove the others.

But maybe my sense of scale is off.... I bet planted ten feet apart you can expect decent growth. I have a row of walnuts nature and the previous owners planted. Some are closer together than you would think is ideal but I like the naturalness of it and seeing some trunks.

Good variety btw.
joebobjones
13 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Are you sure you really want that many trees in an enclosed yard? You're going to have a heck of a time keeping all those leaves out of your pool. I made the mistake of putting too many big trees in my yard 25 years ago and I ended up having to cut some of them down a couple years ago, and then the remaining tree looked awful because of the previously crowded branches. Plus the big trees caused foundation problems, but yours appear to be away from the house, so that aspect should be ok. Just make sure you've thought it through if you're planning to live there a long time. Easier to make adjustments now than 20 years from now.