Tree Training for Tree
Health
The most important part of
tree care is the prevention of damage to the tree. Trees have evolved in
forests growing with other trees nearby and usually with only one main trunk
and a canopy of leaves at the very top. This growth habit is fine for trees
that grow in forest. In the landscape
trees are planted in open spaces which promotes the growth of large
lower limbs.
These large lower limbs
cause several problems for the tree:
1)The first problem is
these trees grow large co-dominant leaders. These large co-dominant leaders
are prone to breaking in ice and wind storms. These large leaders grow in such
a fashion that they apply large amounts of mechanical force at the point where
they fasten to the main tree trunk. When these large limbs fail at the main
trunk permanent damage is done to the tree because the tree has no way to
prevent decay organisms from entering. Eventually decay will weaken the main
trunk to the point that the whole tree presents a hazard and has to be
removed.
2) The second problem
occurs as the tree ages and the canopy is too low in the yard and these large co-dominant
limbs need to be removed. When these large co-dominant limbs are removed often
the trunk of the tree will partially die below where the removal cut was made.
This is because the vascular system of the tree runs from the limb through the
trunk to the root system. When the limb is removed the rest of it’s connected
vascular system dies. This kind of decay can happen in just a few years and
can result in a hazardous tree prone to trunk
failure.
3) The third problem is
all of the energy the tree has put into growing these large leaders that are
being removed. If the tree had been trained by pruning correctly in the first
place a lot of this energy would have been directed to the growth of limbs
that would permanently stay on
the tree. This would result is a larger and healthier tree in the landscape in
a shorter time.
The training of a tree in
the landscape to reach a mature form takes from 20 to 25 years. During this
time pruning cuts need to be made to reduce the size and subordinate competing
co-dominate stems. If this is not done the tree will develop poor structure
that can not be corrected in it’s adult life without causing considerable
damage.
This long term approach to
tree pruning results in much healthier and better appearing trees that are
less likely to fail during wind and ice storms. By properly training a tree in
it’s youth we are mimicking the growth habit it would have in it’s natural
habitat, the forest. This is how trees have evolved. Working with the tree’s
nature rather than against it we can allow a tree to fulfill it’s genetic
potential in our landscapes.
Dan
Nelson
I.S.A Certified Arborist
Sussex Tree
Inc.
20346 Nelson
Dr.
Bridgeville DE
19933
