What Is the Best Season to Prune Your Deciduous Trees?
As you care for your garden throughout the year, one of your tasks is to prune your plants and trees. Pruning helps produce new growth, clear away dead branches and reduce the risk of pests. But you can't just prune your deciduous trees any time of the year for any reason. If you prune in the wrong season, you could do more harm than good.
In general, winter is the best time for deciduous tree pruning.
Winter tree pruning is generally best in most cases
Most tree specialists agree that winter is the best time to prune deciduous trees. The most important reason for this is that deciduous trees are dormant in the winter months, from June to August. When deciduous trees are dormant during the winter, they produce no growth and bleed less when pruned.
Winter is also a good time to prune trees because pests and diseases are also dormant during this time. And come spring, freshly pruned trees will immediately begin to heal pruning wounds and produce new growth.
Late spring or early summer tree pruning is best for trees that bleed heavily
Some deciduous tree species bleed heavily when pruned in late winter or early spring. The following list shows some of the most common heavily bleeding deciduous trees:
- Birches
- Maples
- Cherry trees
- Magnolias
- Elms
If you prune these trees in late winter or early spring, they will bleed heavily. Although the bleeding won't kill deciduous trees, it will attract birds and insects that want to feed on the leaking sap. And tree sap can become mouldy, which increases the risk of disease.
Prune sap heavy trees such as maples and birches in late spring or early summer when they have already reached full bloom.
Late spring is a good time to prune trees that flower in early spring
Tree pruning can help your trees produce more blooms each spring. If your deciduous trees bloom in early spring, then this means they are blooming on old wood that your trees created last year before winter. If you prune early-spring bloomers in late spring, you help them to produce more blooms come next spring.
Avoid pruning deciduous trees in early to mid-autumn
In most cases, avoid pruning your trees from early to mid-autumn. If you prune your deciduous trees during this period, they may produce new growth. This new growth will then die in the colder temperatures of winter.
If tree pruning is a job that you have little experience in, then hire a professional tree pruning service. Professionals know when to prune trees to get the best results. They can also give you some tips should you wish to do some tree pruning yourself in the future.