When it comes to pruning, arborists and property owners alike are only as good as the tools they use. If you are planning to prune your trees and shrubs it’s important to have the right tools that are sanitized and sharp as well as the confidence to execute the task. Your arborist can train you to do this if you aren’t confident, so seek some guidance if there’s any gaps in your knowledge. Understanding how to prune correctly before you start can help you do the best job possible and will keep you from making expensive, harmful mistakes. Having quality tools an important part of tree care, here’s what you need to get started:
Hand shears-Arborists use hand shears quite often, when a pruning saw would cause a smaller branch to bounce around on a blade. Choose the kind of hand shears with a blade on both sides, in lieu of an anvil-type where the blade is synched down onto the blunt edge until it’s cut. Anvil-type pruners cause crushing damage to sensitive vascular tissues in small branches. A good quality professional brand is Felco, which aren’t the cheapest option but will last you a lifetime if you care for them.
Uses: Once you get a feel for what your tools can do, you’ll find that once a branch is too thick to be pruned by hand shears, you switch to your pruning saw. Tree Health Management arborists use hand shears to prune just about everything we prune from the ground. Things like boxwoods, Spirea, Ninebark and Weigelia are good examples of shrubs that are often solely pruned using hand shears. For a small additional cost, you can get a holster that allows you to keep your pruners safely out of the way when you’re not using them while keeping them on your belt for quick access.
Pruning Saw-Not a chainsaw, but a curved (or straight) blade with a handle. Exercise caution with these, they are razor sharp and simply touching the blade to your skin can cause a surprising amount of bleeding to occur. There are longer ones to be used on all sized trees and others that are compact and can be used to prune out tightly packed branches where there’s not much room for error. Some arborists will have a long and short one, but a medium or large pruning saw might be all you need. Be sure to purchase a scabbard which covers your blade and has loops that allow you to attach it to your belt for quick easy use.
Uses: Pruning saws can be used in most situations that might also be done with the use of a chainsaw. If chainsaws scare you or you feel you don’t have the training for confident chainsaw use, you can do a lot with a pruning saw. Tree removals over 6” in diameter are better done with a chainsaw. Nearly all work done by THM arborists from the ground is done with the use of hand shears and a pruning saw.
Pole saw: This is for more the more advanced property owner. Pole saws can help you remove branches high enough in the canopy that they cannot be reached from the ground. Pole saws are a removable or fixed pruning saw head fixed to the end of a pole. The saw blade is typically curved to make positioning easier from the ground. When using this kind of tool, be sure you understand how to properly prune the portion of the tree you’re targeting. In some cases, it may be better to hire an arborist to do the work or have your arborist teach you how to do this kind of work to limit the amount of peeling that occurs to a branch being pulled to the ground by gravity.
If you would like some guidance on correct pruning, or have any questions about purchasing tools for yourself, your arborist can help you execute correct, healthy pruning.