3 Tips For Pruning Evergreens

Evergreens are a great tree to have in your yard because they do not require a lot of pruning or maintenance. However, occasionally your evergreen trees may need a little bit of attention. Here are three things you need to know about taking care of the evergreen trees in your yard.

#1 Douglas Firs, Spruces, & Firs

Douglas firs, firs, and spruces are three types of trees that do not grow continuously throughout the year. The best time to prune these three types of trees is during the late winter, as these trees tend to start growing again during the spring-time. When pruning these three types of trees, you can cut back on the growth and pare down the width of the tree. When you trim the terminal tips or buds on the tree, new lateral side buds will start to grow. Although it is best to trim this type of tree during the late winter, if you don't get around to pruning it until spring time, it should not harm the growth of these trees.

#2 Pine Trees

Pine trees also do not grow continuously throughout the year. The tips of pine trees put on new growth each spring, and that is all the growing that they tend to do for the year. If you want to curb the growth of your pine trees, you need to prune these new flush tips, or candles, before the needles on them mature, which means you need to prune any pine trees on your property during mid-spring time.

Pine trees, unlike the three types of trees listed under point one, do not have lateral buds, which means that if you prune away the terminal buds, new growth will not occur on that branch. If you trim too much on the lateral branches, you will eventually end up with dead branches.

If you want your pine trees to look more dense, you can remove most of the new candles or tips on the pine tree during the spring time; this will help your tree become more flush. However, you really shouldn't prune away old growth, as that will lead to dead branches.

#3 Hemlocks, Junipers, Yews, and Arborvitae

These four types of evergreens grow throughout most of the year. The best time to prune these four varieties of evergreens is right around the middle to end of the summer time. These trees are generally very dense and grow the more typical Christmas-tree style shape. They don't need to be pruned to continue to grow. For these types of trees, pruning should be used to help correct any growth that is out of place with the overall structure and shape of the tree. 

To learn more, contact a company like Show Me Tree Service.


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