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A tree may need tree pruning for a range of reasons : to remove ill or storm-damaged branches to thin the crown to allow new growth and better air movement to scale back the height of a tree to remove obstructing lower branches to shape a tree for design purposes Once the choice has been made to prune, your next call is whether to take on the job yourself. In the case of a huge tree where you need to remove big branches in the upper area of the crown, it could be best to hire experts. Large tree pruning, in particular, can need climbing and heavy saws or even cherry-pickers and chain saws. However there are new tools available that may make this a manageable job.

Targeting a Pruning Cut

Whether the tree is little or big, the trick is to prune the unwelcome branch while defending the stem or trunk wood of the tree.

Tree branches grow from stems at nodes and pruning always happens on the branch side of a stem-branch node. Branches and stems are divided by a lip of tissue called a stem collar which grows out from the stem at the base of the branch.

All pruning cuts should be made on the branch side of this stem collar. This protects the stem and the other branches that could be growing from it.

It also allows the tree to heal more successfully after the prune. To prevent tearing of the bark and stem wood, especially in the case of larger branches, use the following procedure :

Three steps to pruning massive branches.

1. Make a tiny wedge shaped cut on the underside of the branch just on the branch side of the stem collar. This could break the bark at that point and stop a tear from running along the bark and stem tissue.
2. Rather farther along the branch, starting at the head of the branch, cut all of the way through the branch leaving a stub end.
3. Eventually, make a third cut parallel to and just on the branch side of the of the stem collar to cut back the length of the stub as much as feasible. A similar procedure is used in pruning one of 2 branches ( or one large branch and a stem ) joined together in a ‘u’ or ‘v’ crotch.

This is sometimes known as a drop crotch cut. Make the 1st nick cut on the underside of the branch you’re pruning well up from the crotch.

For the second cut, cut fully through the branch from within the crotch well up from the ridge of bark joining the 2 branches. Eventually, to shorten the leftover stub, make the third cut just to one side of the branch bark ridge and approximately parallel to it.

Should I Seal the Wound?

Trees naturally close wounds resulting from branch removal, so ideally, pruning injuries should get left to close without any help from you.

Also, since most pruning should be done in late fall or winter, insects shouldn’t be much of a problem. However there exist some circumstances when it is preferable to seal the wound with a non-asphalt-based pruning sealer like Tanglefoot Latex Pruning Sealer. Particularly, you need to seal pruning wounds on trees that are susceptible to damaging insect infestation like birch, oak, and elm trees.

Also, if the weather is particularly dry, a pruning sealer will help the tree keep more moisture.

When to Prune For most trees, the suspended season, late fall or winter, is the best time to prune though dead branches can and should be removed at any point. Pruning during the inactive period minimizes sap loss and subsequent stress to the tree. It also minimizes the chance of fungus infection or insect infestation as both fungi and insects are probably going to be in dormancy at the same time as the tree.

Finally, in the case of deciduous trees, pruning when the leaves are off will give you a better concept of how your pruning will affect the form of the tree. Some fruiting and flowering trees should be pruned at other times of the year, depending on whether they flower on the previous year’s expansion or not.

After pruning, it is often a good idea to give the tree a good fertilizing so the tree can naturally close the pruning injuries and to reduce the stress placed on the tree.

All prunes place stress on a tree and increase its vulnerability to illness and insects. Never prune more than 25% of the crown and make sure that living branches compose at least 2/3 of the peak of the tree.

Pruning more hazards fatally hurting your tree. In a few cases, typhoon damage, height reduction to avoid crowding utility lines or maybe raising the crown to meet civil bylaws, your pruning decisions are made for you. But even in these instances, prune as little as you can get away with.

It is not all that simple to always come up with your own landscaping idea. It is common that most people need some type of help with their landscaping, which makes a really good thing that landscaping ideas are easy to come up with.

There are some truly good places that you can get really great landscaping ideas, and one of the best places is on the Internet. There are absolutely hundreds if not thousands of sites on the Internet that have really great landscaping ideas that you can turn into your own.In most instances it is necessary to put lots of thought and consideration into how you want your yard to look, so finding just the right landscaping idea is critical to the success of your project.

You should start by taking a walk around your property in order to get a good sense of what can be done. You need to determine where all the slopes and levels in your yard are, as well as determining how good your drainage is. This way you will be able to tell which landscaping idea is right for you right off the bat. The more features that you pick up on in your yard, the simpler it will be for you to find the right idea. It wouldn’t be a good thing if you chose a landscaping idea and started work on only to find out later on that you can’t completed because of some feature that your yard has. With this in mind, you can see why it is important to study all of the different aspects of each landscaping idea you like.

And before you choose the final landscaping idea that you are going to use take a little extra time to learn the basics of landscaping. Learning these basics is vital if you haven’t ever performed  landscaping before. A really good place to find out some landscaping basics is by checking out a book from your library. This is really good because you don’t have to buy it and you still get the great advice that the book has to offer. You can gain a lot of really great information from reading landscaping books, and you might even find some outstanding landscaping ideas in them.

If you know for sure that you’re going to change how your front and backyard look, then you’re really going to have to come up with some good landscaping ideas that will incorporate into your yard. You’re going to want both your phone and your backyard to blend in with each other, as this is going to give you the best possible feel. So make sure that when you’re looking at landscaping ideas you find something that is going to fit this bill.

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One of the many landscaping goals for lots of people is to have an entirely maintenance free front yard. You can get easy to manage front yard landscaping done by any of the professional landscapers in your area or you can do it yourself. Either way you can have front yard landscaping done that will take minimal work to keep looking fantastic all year round. If you are going to get a professional in to do your front yard landscaping though, be sure to tell him that this is your over all goal, that you want to have a yard that will not take a lot of work to keep up.

If you have less grass in your front yard landscaping then you will cut out a lot of maintenance time right there. If you have to mow and water a lawn all the time , not to mention all of the fertilizers that it takes to keep it green, then you can see how much time and money you can save by reducing or eliminating this from your front yard landscape. By talking to a landscape designer you can find out alternatives to grass that can still keep your yard looking fantastic.

Some individuals prefer to use a nice clover mixture instead of grass. A lot of people opt to use clover instead of grass in their frony yard landscaping because it saves them time and money. If you opt to use clover you will be glad because it doesn’t require much mowing or water to keep it nice. Clover thrives in almost all climates. And best of all for those who want to get out there and enjoy their front yard landscaping, bugs hate clover.

Having to spend the resources and time to water your lawn can many times be a big bother. For those that suffer from this frustration their is the option of of automatic irrigation systems that are becoming more an more widely implemented. This can be a truly huge time and money saver. You couldn’t find a simpler way to keep your lawn watered and healthy looking throughout the long summer months. No more hooking up the sprinkler or having to drag out the hose.

Professionals are easily found that can quickly and easily put in a system or they have DIY kits that you can install yourself. Unless you have experience setting this type of thing up though it would be recommended to use a professional. If you made a simple mistake and a leak developed it could cause all sorts of damage and that would not benefit your front yard landscaping project any at all.

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Home landscaping is no different than any other kind of landscaping. It is natural for people to want a yard that looks fabulous, that’s why people spend so much money to become the envy of their neighbors. A really great thing about home landscaping is that it isn’t really that hard and you can do most of it yourself. All it will take a is a little elbow grease and some time to spare and you can design your own home landscaping design quickly and easily.

There are even products on the market that will help you to find the best home landscaping idea out there. One such option is to use home landscaping software. These programs can be a great help to you as you are trying to figure out what will suit your home and yard the best. These types of programs will allow you to see several different layouts which can be real beneficial when you’re trying to narrow down your options.

If by chance you don’t think that a home landscaping software programs for you then you can try doing a search online for some really great home landscaping ideas. The internet is full of great sites that you can use to get everything done the right way. As with all things that you’re starting out on it is important to do a lot of research before you start your home landscaping project. This research will help you to keep your mistakes to a minimum. If you do make a boo-boo, don’t worry about it, any thing can be fixed.

Before you start your home landscaping you will need to also look into any gas lines and electrical lines that may be running through your yard. This is an absolute must if digging is in any of your plans. You don’t want to have to afford hitting either of these things, not only can it cost you a lot of money to fix, it can be life-threatening. Hitting an electrical line with a metal shovel could put an end to all of your work, your life too.

Before starting your landscaping project be sure to check into zoning restrictions which might have an effect on your project. In some locations there are tight restrictions on trees and you can’t even build certain types of fences. If you’re aware of all the regulations in your area you can save yourself a lot of time and money.

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