Evergreen Trees: Plant and Forget...Well, maybe not.

This week we worked on caring for several mature evergreen trees in a client's backyard. The tree had not been pruned when young and therefore has several structural issues. Our focus was to prune to help minimize the structural weaknesses and promote new and strong structure to make sure this family has a healthy and safe tree for many years to come.
As with all pruning we started removal of dead wood. This had a surprising affect on these evergreens. In the image below are two trees. The tree to the left is one I have not yet removed dead. The one to the right had all the dead twigs and branches removed.

If we stopped there this tree would be in a lot better shape already. There would no longer be wood rotting and inviting disease into the tree. There also would not be the dead wood attracting wood eating insects to your property. The structure of the tree is  better off because some of the wind can pass through, reducing the stress on weaker limbs. 

Of course we did not stop there. There are more things we can do to help this tree be healthy and productive for years to come. The next four steps of pruning were completed and this tree in now positioned to continue growing healthy and strong.