What Are the Most Popular Types of Pruning?

There are plenty of ways to care for your lawn and garden. From irrigation system installation to leaf removal to something as simple as lawn mowing, property owners have a number of options for tending their yards.

It doesn’t take an expert gardener to know that pruning is a great way to protect the health of plants. Even the most inexperienced gardeners know that a pair of pruning shears can be a plant lover’s best friend.

What you may not have known, however, is that pruning is a lot more than just cutting away branches and twigs to create shapes.

There are many different types of pruning that can serve many different purposes. Here is everything you need to know about the most popular types of pruning with tips from The Parke Company.

Most Popular Types of Pruning

Thinning Cuts

Thinning cuts are known by several names, such as removal cuts, collar cuts, or natural target pruning cuts.

The purpose of thinning cuts is to remove side branches of a parent branch or remove a smaller branch from the trunk. There are a number of benefits to thinning cuts.

From an aesthetic angle, thinning cuts can help with canopy thinning: a process that includes a whole host of its own benefits, including the increased growth of interior branches.

Thinning cuts also help to preserve the branch defense zone, which gives trees and other plants an advanced defense against internal decay.

Reduction Cuts

Reduction cuts are another beneficial form of pruning. This type of pruning is the inverse of thinning cuts and actually removes a larger branch back to a smaller side branch.

This method involves making cuts to fully bisect the branches at an angle. While sometimes necessary, this method can be tricky because this type of pruning does not create a branch defense zone and leaves the branch without much defense against decay.

Reduction cuts are required, however, because this type of pruning is the only method that will significantly shorten a tree.

Heading Cuts

While certainly not the last type of pruning, heading cuts can be a perfect pruning method when you need to remove the tip from a branch.

Typically, this method is used to create density in a tree because heading cuts release side buds which results in increased growth at the place where the branch has been pruned.

When pruning bushes or shrubs, heading cuts can create a very dense canopy, resulting in a woody base due to the increased shade on the lower portion of the shrub.

Contact The Parke Company Today!

These different methods of pruning are only a few of the ways that you and your landscaping professional can help your property look its best.

To determine what type of landscaping services are best for you, contact the experts.

If you’re looking for the best landscaping companies in Nashville, look no further. With one quick call to the expert landscaping designers in Nashville, TN, your small yard will be the envy of property owners with ten times the space.

Irrigation system installation and landscaping services from a landscaping maintenance company like The Parke Company can help you protect and beautify your property without the hassle of tackling projects on your own. For residential or commercial landscape maintenance, give us a call at 615-350-6033 or contact us online today to see how The Parke Company difference can work for you!