Pruning after leaf drop or late winter??

Joe Dupre'

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I'm just curious when do y'all prune your deciduous trees....... in fall after leaf drop or right before bud break in the spring. I am kind of haphazard on the timing myself. Pros and cons of both ways??
 

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I do it right before spring. Now by "prune", do you mean just snipping new shoots to maintain the tree's silhouette, or like major branch cutting to obtain a shape?
 

Joe Dupre'

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I'm mostly talking about a hard prune...... taking long, leggy branches back well inside the proposed silhouette.
 

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I'm mostly talking about a hard prune...... taking long, leggy branches back well inside the proposed silhouette.
I'd do it just before spring then for sure. Cuts of that magnitude will heal faster with the tree being active during the growing season. Making a big cut right after all the leaves drop means you have slow healing during the dormant period. I'm sure winter there doesn't last very long, but still.
 

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I respectfully disagree that cuts heal better in spring than fall. Maples bleed in spring and it's hard to shut off. That same cut dries quickly in fall. I would seal it in either case.
 

Joe Dupre'

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I'd do it just before spring then for sure. Cuts of that magnitude will heal faster with the tree being active during the growing season. Making a big cut right after all the leaves drop means you have slow healing during the dormant period. I'm sure winter there doesn't last very long, but still.
Yeah, our winters are not very long. The joke around here is something like this..... "It was a short winter last year. I think it was on a Thursday..........in the morning." :D
 

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Both answers work depending upon species and climate. For your climate it shouldn't make any difference but I do agree that some plants, like maples, bleed excessively in the spring. In the nursery bussiness we would do most of our pruning in winter. Of course this is not the answer for a plant that may experience die back due to extreme cold.
 

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Maples bleed in spring and it's hard to shut off.
Is that not what cut paste/putty is for? I'm genuinely asking, not being snarky. I'm always up for gaining more knowledge.

I get that cutting right after leaf drop means less potential for sap escape, but does sealing wounds not fully close them till the tree can heal on its own?

My interest in this topic has just gone up. Looking forward to hearing more pros/cons as well as the science behind it. During winter dormancy, how much cellular division is happening within deciduous trees? I guess no matter when major cuts are made, the tree still has to expend energy healing that cut. I suppose if you want the tree to get a head start on wound closure, then yes, cutting at the beginning of dormancy gains you a few months of healing, but how much healing is really happening during dormancy?
 

penumbra

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Is that not what cut paste/putty is for? I'm genuinely asking, not being snarky. I'm always up for gaining more knowledge.
It is actually very difficult to stop a maple from bleeding when the sap rises, if the cut is large it could bleed several weeks or more sealer or no.
 

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It is actually very difficult to stop a maple from bleeding when the sap rises, if the cut is large it could bleed several weeks or more sealer or no.

This is why many will also do a repot at the same time. Trimming the roots back will usually keep the bleeding down
 

Joe Dupre'

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I would guess climate has a lot to do with it. That hit home with me when I was reading about bonsai enthusiasts in Canada being really into what their trees look like with no leaves in their winter silhouettes. That could be as much as 9 months! That really blew me away. Ours are bare less than half of that time.
 

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This is why many will also do a repot at the same time. Trimming the roots back will usually keep the bleeding down
Boo Hiss. That's two major insults at the same time. I repot when growing and has a full head of mature foliage, like June, and repot from April to July trimming roots at that time.
 

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Pathogens are in the air and land, wherever. They float around and by dumb luck get into open wounds. Some trees are susceptible more than others, like Maple, so I always seal ASAP to lessen the exposure. Bugs can fly up wind to a open wound they smell. There is an English study from a long time ago that supposedly demonstrates that untreated wounds heal faster. I think the study was superficial and leaves a lot to be desired. There is an even more important reason to close wounds muy pronto in bonsai, and that is we want the cambium edge to be protected so there is little or no die-back of the stub/wound and we want that edge alive so as to roll over the cut sooner and cleaner. I speculate that the tree having the whole winter to callous-over at that wounded cambium site is better than having less time in the spring. IMHO.
 

Paradox

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Boo Hiss. That's two major insults at the same time. I repot when growing and has a full head of mature foliage, like June, and repot from April to July trimming roots at that time.

lol Boo hiss all you like its a fact people do repot and to a major cut back at the same time to reduce bleeding at the chop.
I didnt make it up so dont shoot the messenger
 

LanceMac10

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2-19-17

DSC01610.JPG DSC01620.JPG.....near zero weeping after I followed up with a re-pot.......DSC01615.JPG..cuz I was using a saw.

DSC01623.JPG

...pretty amazing really, just like from Peter Adam's book, no bleeding....still a bush these days, just lower! :cool:
 

leatherback

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I'm just curious when do y'all prune your deciduous trees....... in fall after leaf drop or right before bud break in the spring. I am kind of haphazard on the timing myself. Pros and cons of both ways??
I do light pruning (Annual growth) in fall when leaves are dropping. I try to wire & trim my deciduous at that time.
Big Cuts I do in late spring, when the tree has the first flush of foliage. The tree is active and can start responding directly..
 

Forsoothe!

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lol Boo hiss all you like its a fact people do repot and to a major cut back at the same time to reduce bleeding at the chop.
I didnt make it up so dont shoot the messenger
I add my 2 cents where there is a substantial difference of it. I don't mean to say that my way is better than yours, I do mean to say there's more than one way to skin a cat. I reckon that people here do almost everything we speak of here at every possible time of year, and it works for them. When I concur I give a thumbs-up to re-inforce what has been said. The Boo Hiss is the opposite.
 

Joe Dupre'

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I've done it all ways.......cut branches back at all times of the year. It really doesn't seem to matter much. I can maybe get away with that better than someone in climate zone 3 or 4. I've trunk chopped a 3" diameter BC down to 10" high in the heat of the summer. Result......"Yawwwwwn. Is that all ya got?"
 

MrWunderful

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I will cut Nothing bigger than a pinky nail once leaves start turning, i find its best for maintenance/ cutting back to taper.

Mid summer works best for me for huge chops and wound preparation.
 
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