The Best Times of the Year for Tree Trimming

back view of gardener trimming trees

When Should I Prune My Trees?

Have you ever peered out your front window during a harsh rainstorm biting your knuckles over whether or not a precarious-looking branch on that big, majestic oak outside your door is going to come down on your roof – or your neighbor’s?

Why Prune Trees?

Sooner or later, every homeowner with at least a tree or two will need to consider pruning. Weak or diseased tree limbs need to be removed for safety reasons. Hanging branches that threaten damage to persons or property or those that are at risk of taking down power lines must be assessed regularly. Property owners may also want to shape their smaller trees for aesthetic reasons or thin them out to control growth. And for those who have invested in roof-top solar panels, preventing a tree’s growth from casting shadows on their panels is imperative.

When Is the Best Time to Prune Trees?

If you see tree limbs that pose an imminent threat to persons or property, the time to prune them is now. Here at Lewis Burns Tree Service, your local tree service company in York PA, we have been providing quality tree pruning and tree removal services since 1968. We specialize in quick, safe tree trimming to protect buildings and infrastructure mitigating the potential of future, unexpected damages.

If a dangerous situation is not imminent, however, our certified arborists can take a tree inventory of your property. We can advise which trees will benefit from regular pruning and when it should be done. We can also assess if any of your trees have infestations that may require more immediate attention.

Generally, deciduous trees, those that follow a cycle of new growth in the spring and shedding leaves in the fall, should be pruned in late fall or early winter after they have lost their leaves or before spring growth has begun. Pruning after seasonal growth has begun is ill-advised, because the health of your trees depends on their ability to draw on the food stored in their leaves to help them through the dormant winter months.

While there is no hard and fast rule for pruning flowering shrubs and trees, we recommend doing so shortly after they fully bloom. Besides keeping trees shapely, pruning encourages new growth and rids trees of dead or decaying branches. An alternative is to prune in the winter while the trees are dormant. With each cut, trees experience open wounds, and doing so in the winter allows them to heal without having to deal with insect problems interfering with the process.

Tree Service in Your Area

We at Lewis Burns Tree Service provide myriad services including routine tree care in York, PA, tree trimming in Red Lion PA, tree removal, stump grinding, and emergency tree services in your area. Whether you need aesthetic trimming of your bushes or flowering trees or need to address the unsafe situation of a larger tree or trees, we can handle the job. Give us a call today!

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