Save Your Trees With These Tips! 3 Must-Know Tree-Pruning Tips to Keep in Mind

If you properly prune your trees, shrubs, and flowers, you will greatly enhance the look of your landscaping. And while proper pruning can do a lot to increase your curb appeal, you must keep in mind that improper pruning can do just the opposite. In fact, if you don’t know how to prune correctly, you should avoid doing it altogether. For those of you who want to tackle pruning your landscaping yourself, make sure you sharpen your pruning tools and follow these helpful tips.

Start in the winter

The best time to prune plants is during winter, preferably in February, depending on where you live. Plants are usually dormant during the winter, which means when you prune them, it won’t shock them. Heavy pruning should always be done in the winter, while minimal pruning and trimming can typically be performed any time of the year.

Cut branches correctly

If you’re cutting back to an intersecting branch — a lateral branch — make sure it forms an angle no larger than 45 degrees with the branch you want to remove. The diameter of the branch that you are cutting back to should be at least half the size of the branch you want to cut off. To help ensure water is prevented from collecting in the cut you make and to expedite healing, make slants when cutting. Also, when pruning, a woody plant needs to be “opened” to cut out some of the center growth; this allows you to cut back terminals all the way to the buds. Remember, you are cutting them back to the terminals that are pointing outward. If you are pruning thick and heavy branches, you will need to remove them flush with the collar that is found at the base of the branch. DO NOT remove them so that they are flush with the trunk. There is a chemically protective zone found in the area of tissue in the collar, which then helps prevent any serious trunk wounds from developing.

Topping versus thinning

Topping is generally not a recommended practice. This process involves cutting the top of a tree into unnatural shapes, such as completely flat or a dome-like. Unfortunately, it can negatively affect the structure and appearance of a tree because weakly attached branches that have grown back during regrowth can be severed during wind and rain storms. With this in mind, thinning is almost always recommended over topping.  Thinning out a tree keeps the trees general shape while selectively cutting away unwanted branches.

Premier Tree Solutions can help. We specialize in a number of arboreal areas, including tree removal, tree trimming and pruning, storm damage reparation and cleanup, branch clearing and debris removal, stump removal and grinding, Bobcat work and more. If you need tree-related help this winter, either cleaning up after a tree incident or taking preventative measures to ensure cold weather doesn’t affect your yard, give us a shout. Let us know how we can help today at 404-252-6448 or contact us here.

Introducing JAWS: Changing the Way Tree Removal is Done in Georgia

We at Premier Tree Solutions are the FIRST in Georgia to own and use JAWS – a Palfinger PK40002 Knuckle Boom Crane with a Mecanil SG280 Grapple Saw from Palfleet in Tiffin, Ohio. And while most homeowners probably haven’t heard of this new piece of innovative equipment, it is revolutionizing the tree removal industry. Boasting a wide range of features, the JAWS increases safety for tree removal workers and simplifies the entire tree removal process. It’s a win-win for everyone — property owners and tree removal workers alike.

What’s so great about it you ask? The JAWS enables tree removal service providers to cut down entire trees without having to climb them. You got to see this to believe it! Workers use remote control operations from the ground, which eliminates the dangerous possibility of falling from trees during the tree removal process.

Known as the safest and most efficient way to remove trees, the JAWS makes it unnecessary for tree removal workers to climb trees and cut them by hand. This new type of equipment enables tree removal to be performed much quicker than traditional methods, and it also helps save money while promoting safety and reducing the need for redundant cleanup tasks. It also eliminates damage to your property that can be caused by the traditional way of dropping trees and limbs on the ground. We call it low impact/no impact tree removal because you will never know we were even there!

There is no denying that tree removal is a dangerous type of work, whether the job is big or small. In 2015, according to the Tree Care Industry Association, there were a total of 125 fatal accidents in the tree removal industry as well as 59 serious accidents. Workers are often called to job sites where dying and hazardous trees must be cut through for removal and this is why the JAWS is proving to be of such value to the industry. Utilizing the proper tools and pieces of equipment can greatly minimize the occurrence of injury and death in the tree care industry, and when using a grapple saw like the one you see on the JAWS, there is no need for a climber, which ultimately reduces the exposure to severe or fatal injuries that are often seen in tree removal.

Premier Tree Solutions is the first to bring this innovation to Georgia and we want you to be among the first to experience the difference! Check out our photos and video clips on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Let us come out and provide you with a free assessment to determine if the JAWS is right for your job. Contact Premier Tree Solutions today at 404-252-6448 to learn more about the JAWS and how it is changing the way tree work is done in Atlanta. You can also contact us here to schedule a free assessment.