Pruning trees

Tips on when and how to trim tree branches 

By Cathy Collins

If this is the year you've decided to deal with that wayward branch threatening the cottage roof, May is the month to make your cut. It's best to prune trees, including evergreens, before they “break bud” (the vegetative buds that give rise to new shoots and leaves), and after sap season, which, for most of cottage country, runs from early March to mid-April, explains Tom Noland, a tree biochemist with the Ontario Forest Research Institute in Sault Ste Marie.

Otherwise, he says, the sticky, weeping tree wound will invite fungi and bacteria to move in, especially with “big bleeders” like maple and birch trees. If it's been a very wet spring, which fuels the growth of fungal spores, he advises you forgo pruning large branches (more than 10–15 cm in diameter) until drier weather or risk exposing your tree to trunk rot.

Above all, be gentle wielding that chainsaw. If you want better sightlines to the lake, don't lop branches off your bushy view-blocker; instead, create “windows” in the tree. Start at the bottom, on one side, and cut a “hole” in the foliage a few feet high by removing three or four branches. Move to the other side of the tree, climb up seven or eight feet, and repeat. Depending how tall your tree is, you could continue creating windows every few feet, while preserving its crown. You'll be able to see the water better, but those on the water won't be able to spy you. 

- Cathy Collins

Published in the March 2002 issue of Cottage Life magazine.

Copyright © 2002 by Cottage Life. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any article, photograph, or artwork, for other than personal use, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the publisher is strictly forbidden.