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Trees are a beautiful feature in any garden but like shrubs, they need pruning to maintain a healthy growth and remove any dead or diseased branches. Sometimes trees grow in the wrong direction for your garden layout, blocking large parts of your lawn from the sun, causing dry spots and conditions in which other plants struggle to survive. Before you go outside, tree loppers in hand and start chopping away randomly, make sure you know what you are doing!
When to prune trees
Check in tree guides for the precise months for your type of trees, but, generally speaking, the dormant period in late fall or winter is the best time to prune a tree. This is because it is less harmful to the tree, minimizes sap loss and reduces the chance of fungal or insecticide infection. If you have dead branches on your trees, they should be cut off, whatever the season, as they are causing damage to the living branches and are a hazard. Before you trim your trees, make sure you are following safety precautions. Always wear goggles to protect your eyes; do not prune in windy conditions; have someone with you to watch proceedings and hold any ladders steady, and always check your tools before use. Large branches may need serious power tools or saws to remove, and you may consider getting a tree surgeon in for those jobs. If you regularly prune your trees with tree loppers, creating space for growth, you should be able to control the height of the tree, and maintain their health.
What types of tree loppers are there?
Loppers are light shears, used for cutting smaller branches; they are suitable for smaller trees and capable of being used by the nonprofessional gardening enthusiast. Tree loppers come in a variety of sizes, and you may need a range to prune your trees. Most loppers look like heavy-duty scissors with exceedingly sharp blades capable of cutting through branches up to two inches in diameter. Some have extension poles to reach higher into the tree. For mid height pruning, you can get long tree loppers that have handles of 32 inches, and together with a ladder that may be all you need to deal with your unwanted branches. However, if your trees have not been pruned for some time or you have thin, long new growth, high up, which is spoiling the shape of the tree, you may want to buy yourself some telescopic tree loppers. These allow you to extend the pruning pole up to fifteen feet into your tree, and with a lever action to multiply your strength, you can lop off the branches at the top of your trees. Whatever type of tree lopper you need, there is one to suit the type of tree you are pruning and the size of job you are undertaking.
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Author Bio Box: Patricia Wainwright
Get all the facts about gardening tools and gardening articles at GreenThumbArticles.com!
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