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Pruning & Removal Services

"Proper pruning is one of the best things that can be done for a tree; Improper pruning is one of the worst things that can be done to a tree". - Dr. Alex Shigo

Trees, much like people, experience different needs as they progress through various stages of life: infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. In a tree's early life, it is crucial to promote strong growth and proper form. As the tree matures, it becomes more challenging to influence its growth patterns, so the focus shifts to maintaining a stable structure. When a tree reaches old age, the objective is to minimize factors that could lead to its decline and eventual death. The ultimate aim is to ensure that trees live for a long time.

Pruning Services

Trees generally thrive in stable conditions. Sudden or drastic changes to a tree or its environment can cause significant stress, which may even be fatal. For an arborist, tree care should be approached as a long-term, low-intensity process. For example, performing light pruning repeatedly over several years can achieve a similar appearance to a single, intensive pruning session, but the tree will respond more positively to the gradual, low-intensity pruning method.

Fruit Tree Pruning Services

Most fruit trees are pruned during the dormant season to enhance structure, distribute fruitwood, and encourage and maximize fruit yield. Each species has its pruning tolerance and produces fruitwood differently. Unpruned trees tend to produce large numbers of small fruits that may be difficult to reach when harvesting by hand. Branches can become broken by the weight of the crop, and the cropping may become biennial (that is, bearing fruit only every other year). Overpruned trees, on the other hand, tend to produce light crops of large, flavourless fruit that does not store well. Careful pruning balances shoot growth and fruit production. Click on the button below for more in depth information on each species common to the Okanagan.

FRUIT TREE PRUNING

Young Tree Pruning Services

Pruning young trees is done to rectify bad structures before they become a problem in the future. If young trees are “trained” or pruned to promote good structure, they will remain serviceable in the landscape for more years than trees that have not been pruned, especially if the training is started early on. Defects can be removed; a single, dominant leader can be selected, and branches can be well-spaced along the main trunk. Trees that are structurally pruned when young should have fewer structural defects (such as codominant stems), which means they should have less potential for failure at maturity. They also tend to require less maintenance as they age.

Mature Tree Pruning Services

A number of factors must be considered when pruning mature trees. These include; the site, time of year, species, size, growth habit, vitality and maturity of the tree. The amount of live tissue that could be removed depends on the tree size, species, and age, as well as the pruning objectives. Younger trees tolerate the removal of a higher percentage of live tissue more than mature trees. As a general rule, mature trees are less tolerant of severe pruning than juvenile trees. Also, smaller cuts are more easily compartmentalized than large cuts.

Large, mature trees should require little routine pruning. A widely accepted rule of thumb is NEVER to remove more than 10% of a MATURE tree’s leaf-bearing canopy. Removing even a single, large-diameter limb can create a wound that the tree may be unable to close. The older and larger a tree becomes, the less energy it has in reserve to close wounds and defend against decay or insect attack.

TIP: It is better to remove a small amount of live foliage often than a lot all at once.

Cabling & Bracing Services

Cabling and bracing are two techniques used to give supplemental support to trees that have partially failed or show characteristics prone to failure. The cost of tree cabling or bracing depends on many factors, and advanced knowledge of a tree’s defence, stress levels, and physics is necessary in order to install these systems properly. A professional must inspect all tree support systems after a substantial weather event as well as a bi-annual inspection to ensure the system is functioning properly.

Hedging Services

Hedging involves the professional trimming, shaping, and maintenance of hedges and shrubs to enhance the aesthetic appeal and functionality of outdoor spaces. Skilled arborists use specialized tools to make precise cuts, promoting healthy growth and achieving a neat, well-defined appearance. These services can also include pruning for plant health, controlling height and width, and removing overgrowth to improve sunlight and airflow. Regular maintenance keeps hedges looking their best and prevents them from becoming unruly or invasive.

Tree Removal

Most tree removals can be avoided with proper pruning and Plant Health Care, but when all other options to maintain health and vitality have been exhausted, sometimes removal is the only option.

You should never attempt to remove a tree by yourself. Tree removal is a high-risk activity that poses potential hazards to people and property and should only be performed by trained, experienced, and fully insured professionals.

8 Reasons NOT to TOP your Tree

1. Starvation: Good pruning practices rarely remove more than one-fourth of the crown, which in turn does not seriously interfere with the ability of the tree's leafy crown to manufacture food. Topping removes so much of the crown that it upsets an older tree's well-developed crown-to-root ratio and temporarily cuts off its food-making ability.

2. Shock: A tree's crown is like an umbrella that shields much of the trees from direct rays of the sun. By suddenly removing this protection, the remaining bark tissue is so exposed that sun scalding may result. There may also be a dramatic effect on the neighbouring trees and shrubs. If the tree thrives in shade and the shade is removed, poor health or death may result.

3. Insects and Disease: The large stubs of a topped tree have a difficult time forming callus. The terminal location of these cuts, as well as their large diameter, prevent the trees' chemically based natural defence system from doing its job. The stubs are highly vulnerable to insect invasion and the spores of fungi. If decay is already present in the limb, the opening will speed the spread of the disease.

4. Weak Limbs

At best, the wood of the new limb that sprouts after a larger limb is truncated is more weakly attached than a limb that develops more normally. If rot exists or develops at the severed end of the limb, the weight of the sprout makes a bad situation even worse.

5. Tree Death

Some older trees are more tolerant of topping than others. Beech trees, for example, do not sprout rapidly after severe pruning, and the reduced foliage most surely will lead to the death of the tree.

6. Ugliness

A topped tree is a disfigured tree. Even with its regrowth, it never regains the grace and character of its species. The landscape and the community are robbed of a valuable asset.

7. Rapid New Growth

The goal of topping is usually to control the height and spread of the tree. Actually, it has the opposite effect. The resulting sprouts (called water sprouts) are far more numerous than normal growth, and they elongate so rapidly that the tree returns to its original height in a very short time and with a far denser crown.

8. Cost

To a worker with a saw, topping a tree is much easier than applying the skill and judgment of good pruning. Therefore, topping may cost less in the short run. However, the true costs of topping are hidden. These costs include reduced property value, the expense of the removal and replacement if the tree dies, the loss of other trees and shrubs, if they succumb to changed light conditions, the risk of liability from weakened branches, and increased future maintenance.

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