By Phil Graf, Graf Tree Care, Inc. -  ISA Certified Arborist and Urban Forestry Consultant

Fall color is abundant and the nights and mornings are getting cooler. While some people are getting ready to wind down for the season, it’s actually time to get ramped up.  I’ve noticed that when it comes to tree and shrub pruning more and more of our customers “think spring”.  I thought it might be helpful to take some time to discuss why tree pruning is better left for the dormant season.

During April and May, as you can probably imagine, our phone here at Graf Tree Care rings pretty much non-stop. A very high volume of calls come in regarding tree pruning. Our customers wake up from their winter hibernation and begin to look around at their landscape and trees again.  Basically what they see is exactly what it looked like the past fall as the leaves dropped, as trees do not grow in the winter.  It is then when I wish these customers would have taken a closer look last fall.  Our work-lists for spring root feeding and fungicide/insecticide sprays have are a mile long and have specific windows of opportunity to perform.  In March we are root feeding, getting nutrients in the soil that the trees need to take up first thing to be healthy. April consists of fungicide sprays for Crab Apples, Pines, and Spruce. Then May and June is consumed by Ash tree treatments.  By the time July rolls around Japanese Beetles are flying and summer thunderstorms have us scrambling to clean up storm damage.  By the beginning of August, four months have passed and we have had no time for tree pruning, yet the requests have piled up. The conscientious arborist and business owner, wanting to service all of our customers, is left wondering where all these requests for pruning were last fall.

In truth, trees are better left to be pruned until the dormant season.  Here are three reasons:

1. When spring arrives, soil moisture from melting snow and the spring rains becomes readily available for the trees, and water begins to move upward through the xylem cells on its way to the leaves. This is why we root feed and inject trees systemically at this time. Translocation is most efficient and water is the vehicle by which we move fertilizers and insecticides up a tree.   Pruning during this time can be stressful and cause epicormic shoots (“sprouts”, or “suckers”) to grow abnormally from the tree, often times growing ten-fold out of one pruning cut. This is not good growth.
2. Reducing the amount of foliage a tree has in the growing season can also be detrimental to the tree because through photosynthesis the leaves are what is producing plant food for that tree.
3. Pruning in the spring and summer months when insect activity is peaking, is also not a good idea.  Fatal fungal diseases like Dutch Elm Disease and Oak Wilt are moved by insects that are active and attracted to fresh pruning cuts.

This past summer, due to the high volume of Ash tree treatments, and excessive storm damage, we had an “overflow” situation with our tree pruning requests and had to refer business elsewhere, even to our existing and loyal clients. For any small business, this can be quite discouraging. This is why we are asking you this fall to help us continue to help you. Get out and look at your trees this fall.  If you see deadwood, crossover branches, uneven canopies, branches getting low or close to your home, please let us know.  We can fit you into the schedule for our dormant season pruning program.

Thanks, and remember that trees are part of our infrastructure and add a tremendous value to our property and overall community.  Have a great fall!