Dallas Morning News – February 15, 2018
PRUNING MYTHS AND TIPS
Improper crape myrtle pruning – wastes time and money, looks ugly and hurts flower production.
Is it time to thin trees, cut off the lower limbs and perform other pruning jobs? My answers to these common pruning questions might surprise you.
Late winter is a good time to prune woody plants but your trees may not need it. Few trees, especially shade trees, need major pruning every year. Other than some fruit trees such as peaches, trees don’t need annual thinning and unless lower limbs are a physical interference, they should be left on the tree. Trees can be severely damaged or even killed by removing too many lower limbs. Plus, it looks bad. It’s an error to think that “raising” the canopy of trees will help the growth of grass beneath. Sunlight is still blocked during most of the day and nothing has been done to lessen the competition from the tree’s roots.
Bad pruning advice abounds. Crape myrtles getting whacked back in the winter is one of the leading bad policies. It’s wrong to think that heavy pruning encourages more blooms. Crape myrtles will produce flowers if hacked back, but they will produce larger flowers and bloom more profusely if pruned lightly or not at all. On the other hand, light tip pruning in mid summer will help produce a second round of flowers. George Pincus taught me that technique 45 years ago at Brookhaven Country Club where I worked. He and an assistant showed up with clippers in hand recommending that the trees would have a strong second round of flowering after the tip growth was pruned away. Worked well for everyone. The club got free pruning and refreshed flowering, while Mr. Pincus got cuttings from some of his favorite crape myrtles for new plant propagation.
The other common mistake is “flush cuts.” Except for compaction of soil and having soil and mulch up on the flairs and trunks of trees, these improper cuts are the most damaging thing that can be done to trees. These damaging cuts, which are usually oral or football shaped, invite insects and diseases that attack the top and the bottom of the cuts almost immediately. These wounds, which would have been round in shape if made properly outside the branch collar, will not callus and start to heal evenly and quickly. Besides the likelihood of encouraging pest problems, the long-term result of flush cuts is the formation of cavities in the tree.
And finally – what about painting the cuts? Paints, tars and wound dressings have been proven to slow down the healing of pruning cuts and offer little if any benefit. So – save the time and money and forget the pruning paint. In oak wilt areas, just don’t prune in the spring.