How to Prune (Not Kill) Trees and Shrubs

you hey folks today I'd like to go ahead and show you how to prune trees and shrubs on your property but I want to do something a little bit different I'm sure there's plenty of videos out there about how to do the three cut method I want to show you the why why you should prune using the three cut method and I will at the end of the video show you how to do the three cut method but over the winter I was actually splitting some wood and I found some great examples of what a really well calloused over cut looks like so I just wanted to share with you today and show you the why of why it's so important to do the three cut method and what the benefits are for your tree I was hoping to leave the logs on the ground but it might be better if I just pick them up but what I've got behind me here is these are some logs from a large oak tree is probably about this big in diameter or so that was cut down and the tree had come to the end of its its time and it started to decline and I wanted to show you some examples of really well calloused over cuts here's one if you take a look here if you take a look this would be a branch that somebody had cut off a long time ago and this is where they would have sawed off that branch and then here you can see the callus tissue has come in and form that really nice callus over the wound to keep out any disease and moisture and prevent rot and I don't know if you can see that way you can see here you can actually see where this tree was cut and this is a wonderful example of how nicely trees can heal if you use the three cut method now this is a branch that was on the tree that for whatever reason maybe the branch snapped off in a windstorm but it wasn't cut using a three cut method and as you take a look at this you can see that there's a little more rot around the branch it's not as clean of a cut I mean this really did heal over quite well but it would have healed over better and and improved the health of the tree had the three cut method been used honestly this is really a best-case scenario if this branch was you know extending out really really far and had never had never been given a chance to heal over the cows were just kept working its way up along the branch and never got a chance to close that wound the reason you want to do the three cut method is to make sure you close off that wound keep moisture out of there keep insects out of there prevent rot close the wound just like with your skin if you get cut you want to put some stitches in there close that wound as quick as possible so the healing can begin and prevent infection this is probably the best example this log right here there used to be a branch right here and I was trying to saw through the log and if you take a look here's all your calloused tissue covering the end of that log this is actually like a reverse impression the wood the wood of the branch is right here and this is what snapped off after I cut it but look at how nicely that healed over by using the free cut method and cutting it the right way whoever did this work they didn't leave the branch so long they didn't leave the branch so long that it took forever to close the wound and rot got established they cut it right in the right spot and I mean there's no there's no rot in there whatsoever that's just a really nice example of the benefits of the 3 cut method so besides just saying do the 3 cut method I just wanted to show you why I mean that's so important you know just because somebody says to touch your toes you know whenever you walk into a room why so there's my best example for you one other thing I want to say is is this branch is fairly substantial in size and I really would not recommend you cutting a branch this size on your own property I would probably stay with branches 2 to 3 inches in diameter if they're in a tough spot or high off the ground I'd say you know just let an arborist coming in to the work you can do more harm than good both to your trees into yourself if you climb up in a tree and try to use the 3 cut method and the other thing is is with a 3 cut method if you cut it in the right spot the tree is going to heal great if you leave your stub too long it might take a little bit too long or longer to heal and that's going to result in some more damage and if you cut your tree your stub back too short you can actually end up making it so it can never really heal because you cut out the callus tissue that can grow back this is the best example I have of a branch to prune off and I really don't have any other trees that need pruning this tree is actually dead and I just need to get around to take it down all the way but we're just going to keep the camera rolling no matter what happened so let's see how it goes the first thing is is when you're pruning branches on trees this is a bow saw it's made for cutting firewood this is a handsaw it's made for cutting lumber this is a pruning saw so Felco six-hundred this is made for pruning branches the thing that this pruning saw can do that the other tool I just showed you can't is you can get into tighter spaces very nicely with the pruning saw the other thing with the pruning saw is it's usually very sharp my bow saw is sharp and my hand so I try to keep sharp as well but these things are razor sharp and it's the right tool for the job so this is a Felco 600 I've had it for probably ten years Falco may have changed the model number but this is a really nice one I keep this in my back pocket whenever I'm pruning rather than using a pair of lopping shears this Falco 600 is just a great tool to have so with the three cut method what you want to do is the first thing whenever you're pruning branches is you want to get the weight of the branch off the last thing you want is to come through and cut your branch and have the weight of that branch rip off the bark of the tree that's the reason for using the three cut method because it's not going to heal the right if rip off that bark it's going to cause more damage than good again using example of your skin if you have a clean cut it's going to heal better than a rough cut so the first thing we're going to do with the 3 cut method is we're going to make a cut usually anywhere from six inches to a foot out from the end of the branch on the underside and what this is going to do is when we come through and we cut the top if the bark starts to peel or wants to peel it's not going to go past that cut so then what we can do is just move half inch to an inch outside of that first cut and cut down through the branch and you see there it's it's hanging but even if I pull it well that actually worked it did it did get stopped by the by the undercut so now that we've got the weight of our branch off the part we want to cut this is called the stub there are some fancy terms for this there's one term called the branch bark Ridge which is right here that's this kind of bunched up bark where the branch of the tree meet and then there's a thing called the branch bark collar which is around the tree here and that's where you see kind of the it's usually like a little bit swollen the key is you don't want to cut into the branch bark collar that collar is where all of your your new growth is going to start and if you damage that that the collar you can cut it out and it just will never actually heal so well I say there is a branch bark region a branch bark collar what I usually do is I just try to look at the branch and see where it stops being kind of swollen and I just cut a little bit outside of that it's better to err going a little too long little too short within reason so for this branch what I'm looking at here is is I'll put the saw backwards you know I'm going to be cutting this guy right around here or so and what you want to do is you want to stay in control when you're pruning and just you know work your way through don't try to be a macho man or a speed demon and just work your way through that branch now when you're getting near the end of the cut you can always use your hand to hold it so it doesn't come down and tear the bark so that's pretty much what you want to do you know this one's a little bit harder because the bark has already fallen off it doesn't really have that bulge to it but you know look for where the bark goes from being swollen to narrow down a bit and just cut a little bit outside that and again the key is you know don't rush it usually when you're pruning for me if I'm pruning a larger limb around the yard your arm gets tired you know as you work your way back and then you get to the time when the most crucial cut comes and your arm is like jelly so if that's the case you know take a break you know drag some brush to the brush pile or something and then come back and do the final cut but that's basically how you're going to go about doing the three cut method you

Channel: CTSCAPER

Views: 838,651

Rating: 4.800065 out of 5

Keywords: 3 cut method, how to prune a tree, prune tree, prune shrub, gardening, bark collar, branch bark ridge

Id: W9ZjIkBwTCw

Length: 10min 24sec (624 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 02 2013