What is the difference between these different types of pruning: thinning, heading and shearing?
Shearing is done mostly out of convenience and is the frequent removal of small amounts of
leaves of foliar tissue or leaves.
●It is an expedient way of pruning.
●It is geometrical.
●Utterly grotesque.
●Shrubs are placed on Jenny Craig’s weight loss program.
●Looks like something that can be bought at Ikea.
●Most photosynthetically active leaves are removed when sheared frequently
●Reduced growth rate in shrubs when sheared chronically
●Chronic shearing over longer periods of time will make the shrubs die because of
starvation
●Practice is done by inexperienced and unprofessional landscape managers
●Natural is HEALTHY AND BEST
What are the different ways to prune shrubs to get a formal or informal look?
●Texas Ranger or leucophyllum frutescens
○Informally cut
○Informal shape
○Make a heading cut and to not make them a same length
○Go into the canopy at different depths at different lengths
○Staggered ray of cuts
○Various depths
○Natural appearance to the plant
What is wrong with topping a tree? What should be the angle of a pruning cut?
●This should NEVER be viewed as a normative or best management practice
● Trees never recover architecturally with their branching patterns
●Tipping?
Know how to make the following types of pruning cuts: heading cut, thinning cut.
●Heading Cut is the partial removal of a stem or branch
○Ficus Benjamina or Weeping Fig, typical house plant
●Thinning Cut is the entire removal of a stem or branch
○Side branch
○Go all the way back to the canopy
Study Guide 8 - Pruning
○Select a point in which that branch is attached to a larger branch
What time of year should pruning be done? What is the difference between pruning flowering
trees and shrubs that flower on old wood and those that flower on new wood?
●Texas Ranger or leucophyllum frutescens
○Informally
○In late February and early March of the year
○1 time of a year
Be familiar with the following pruning tools and what size branches they should be used on:
pruning shears (also called bypass pruners), loppers, pruning saws, pole pruner, hedgers (also
called hedge shears)
●Hand Held Pruners
○If stem caliper is less than ⅜,” than use hand snips
○Grape and houseplant snips
■Extended blade and handle
○Bypass snips
■ Used for most outdoor plant pruning applications of small branches and
stems
○Anvil snips
■Specialty
■Primarily used for the cutting of rose plants
●Loppers
○Range in caliper from ⅜” to 1 inch
○Hand held pruners with extended handles
○Extended handles provides increased leverage to enable to cut stems of greater
caliper
○Fiberglass or tubular steel handles loppers
■Stronger and sturdier
○Wood handle loppers
●Manual and power hedge shears
○Manual lever hedge shears
■Old fashioned way
○Power hedge shears (electric or fuel)
○Shearing is used for fast removal of fleshy stems with stem caliper less than ⅜” in
order to create a formal plant appearance
●Saws
○If a stem caliper is greater than 1” then we use a saw
○If a stem caliper is between 1” to 3” then we use a hand saw
○If a stem caliper is greater than 3” then we use a power saw
○Proper training
○Powerful and dangerous
○Use with precaution
What are some of the safety concerns you should be aware of when pruning? When should you
hire a professional arborist to prune trees?
How to select the right pruning tool for the right job:
●Select and use the proper pruning tools based on the stem or branch caliper that will be
cut
●Tool blades MUST be sharp
●Use of all pruning equipment requires special training, safety precautions, and safety gear
