steps to Prune a Tree

The look and health of most trees in your garden can be improved by regular pruning. Pruning also increased the safety of your garden by eliminating branches that could fall and cause injury or property damage. Pruning can also stimulate fruit production and increase the value of timber.  The following basics of pruning, some pruning tools, and garden gloves will enable you to improve your trees' health and appearance without paying a professional to do it for you. Pruning will result in strong, healthy, attractive plants.

1.   Spend a few moments looking at the tree's size and shape and imagining how it should look when you are finished.
2.  Identify the major branches of the tree that make up its "skeleton". Avoid removal of these branches.
3. Remove branches that are parallel to one another to allow space between, leaving only the ones that enhance the shape of the tree.
4. Eliminate branches that are growing inward, toward the center of the tree. These cause clutter and are not healthy.
5. Check for areas of crowdedness and apply the above guidelines to thin out those areas.
6. Finish by cutting back where tree is too tall or too wide.