Reasons for Winter Pruning Trees and Shrubs Greenville, IL
There is a common misconception that tree and shrub pruning cannot be done during winter. However, the truth is that it is perfectly okay to do this winter lawn care practice in Greenville, IL, at this time of the year. It is advisable to do the major pruning during the winter. When winter comes, trees usually enter a state known as dormancy. Leaves fall off, and the trees take a rest until spring. Pruning during winter is, therefore, known as dormant pruning, and it is done for a number of reasons, as explained below.
Easy Structural Evaluation
As mentioned earlier, trees shed their leaves during the winter, and this makes it easier for arborists to examine the structure of the tree. In other words, it becomes easy to spot dead or dying branches that can be dangerous. This makes pruning during the winter more efficient.
Look Better In Spring
If you want your trees or shrubs to look great during spring, then the best time to prune them is winter. In addition to containing the overgrown shrubs and trees, winter pruning is an excellent way of ensuring that they can rejuvenate beautifully when the weather starts getting warmer.
Winter Pruning – Avoid Diseases Spreading
Winter pruning is also recommended because it helps with reducing the spreading of diseases such as oak wilt, Dutch elm disease, fiber blight, and hawthorn rust, among other diseases that easily spread during summer and spring. Since most of the parasites, fungi, and bacteria that spread or cause diseases are usually dead or dormant during winter, it is less likely to spread diseases with winter pruning.
Minimize Damage
Winter pruning does not stimulate new growth that could be killed by extremely cold weather. Studies have shown that winter time pruning also allows for optimum wound closure before the buds start breaking in spring. Therefore, a tree does not get disfigured or damaged.
Prevent Accidents
During winter, the chances of dead twigs falling off are quite high. This is because as a tree collects ice or snow, the branches get heavier, and if there is any weakness, they can break away from the tree and fall off. Unfortunately, this means that if there is a car, house, or people under the tree, they could get damaged or hurt. Therefore, pruning trees during winter is a safety precaution that is necessary to take to prevent injuries and destruction of property in your home during winter.
