Why prune trees?

As Professional Arborists we use our in-depth knowledge of tree biology & structure to guide us in how best to take care of your trees, our goal is to do what’s best to insure overall tree health along with its structural integrity.

Whether the tree is large or small the first and most important step in maintaining tree health is removing of all dead, diseased and damaged branches. Removing dead limbs helps trees by reducing food source for fungi that could spread to living branches. Often the only way to control certain diseases like Western Gall Rust in Ponderosa Pines, or Bacterial Cankers in Fruit trees is to prune out the infected limbs, care must be taken to prune out infected parts at the appropriate time so as not to spread the disease further. Severe pruning such as topping and or over-thinning will stress a tree unnecessarily, which can make a tree susceptible to beetle attack and/or diseases such as Armellaria Root Rot.

Many  large trees such as the historic Ponderosa Pine can have large limbs with weak attachments or main stems with defects that could lead to failure. Careful pruning can mitigate weaknesses that if left untreated could lead to the necessity of removing the entire tree. Just the removal of large dead limbs eliminates the possibility of those branches falling and causing injury to someone or damage to property.