Major tree pruning to do? Now is the time.
The leaves have fallen, so it’s easier to see where to make the right cuts. What’s more, the leafless branches are lighter in weight and easier to handle, thus decreasing the potential for damage.
The ground is frozen and the perennials beneath the trees are sleeping, so there’s easier access with less chance of harming surrounding plants.
Pruning is less stressful to a tree when it’s dormant, and the wounds have time to heal before new growth begins.
Most important of all, insects attracted to fresh pruning cuts are asleep. Your tree is thus more likely to escape the diseases these insects carry.
Most notable of these insect-spread maladies: oak wilt. This devastating fungus disease is carried by sapsucking beetles to open wounds in oak trees. That’s why arborists agree oaks should be pruned only in winter.
Winter pruning also avoids attracting elm bark beetles, which can spread Dutch elm disease.
Now is also the safe time to remove tree branches affected by fire-blight disease. They’re easy to spot because they look black and dried, just like they’d been burned in a fire. This disease which affects trees in the rose family such as hawthorn, mountain ash, crabapple, and pear, is inactive in cold weather.
When maples and birches are pruned in spring, they “bleed” sap from the cuts. Although it’s not particularly harmful to the tree, it can be messy. That makes winter pruning a better bet.
Remove weak, damaged, or dead branches. If the tree is small and you have sharp pruning tools, you can do the job yourself. But if the tree is large, near the house or power lines, requires climbing or using a chain saw overhead, I think it’s better to be safe than sorry. Hire an insured, certified arborist to do the work. Such an arborist has the training and the equipment to do the job safely.
Sometimes when inspecting a tree, you might see a lot of little holes in the trunk. Don’t jump to the conclusion that your tree is infested with borers. If the holes are about a quarter inch in diameter and lined up in straight rows, chances are good that the culprits are not borers but instead yellow-bellied sapsuckers. These migratory woodpeckers--as their name implies--like to suck sap from tree trunks.
Although sapsuckers can weaken a tree, they won’t kill it. If the area the birds are attacking is within reach, you can temporarily wrap it with burlap to discourage their feeding.
Winter is also the time for renewal pruning of shrubs. Remove at ground level a third of the oldest, biggest branches.
