Pruning and pruning are very often the most in-demand tasks in our field. However, people usually think that they are one and the same.
Of course, pruning and pruning are both actions that consist in cutting a fraction of a tree. But there is a distinction in the approach to each of these techniques. Indeed, their focus of attention is not the same.
Understanding the difference between pruning and pruning Let's start with pruning. Whatever happens, when it comes to applying this technique, the well-being of the tree remains the primary concern.
The work is carried out with a long-term perspective. Also, pruning is generally part of a plan that includes future execution steps, staggered over time and in such a way as to achieve a desired objective. This objective may be other than the well-being of the tree itself, but it must never compromise the tree itself. Indeed, it is considered essential to protect the plant.
This means that measures must be taken to ensure that the tree is in good health, regardless of the extent of the transformation it undergoes. In other words, adaptation efforts are made at the level of human expectations, which we try to meet in spite of everything, if we feel that the tree's constitution would otherwise be affected. Consequently, each intervention is carefully thought out.
As for pruning, it is done with much less care. Its objective is immediate. This time, the human need is at the forefront, even if the tree feels it. So why do we still do the things we do with this technique? Because the crucial importance of the objective in question makes its adoption legitimate. Safety is a good example. That's why Hydro-Québec teams can cut down trees or remove a large portion of them, even if the result is not pretty or very good for the plant. The goal is to protect the electrical grid, a public service infrastructure. Because safety is a valid reason for pruning.
Tree pruning
Pruning is most often limited to coarser, less careful cuts, given the very short-term objective. The cutting of the top, the lateral branch, the greedy ones are part of it. The more drastic the cut, the more stress the tree experiences. In this case, its growth can be seriously affected. It cannot even be ruled out that the tree may die after an action that is too brutal for it.
However, despite the consequences, the fact remains that a wide range of objectives can justify measures as categorical as pollarding:
-Safety in preventing imminent injury to persons otherwise at risk of death.
-Protecting the integrity of buildings, or expensive infrastructure, potentially providing vital services, such as energy to a community.
-The release of sight so that we can admire a magnificent landscape that was previously hidden from us.
The removal of a lower section of the branch, which thwarts our longed-for plan to install a swing in the shade under the antler.
With pruning, the necessary action to reach the goal is taken without delay, it is not a long term one, because the goal is imperative. The well-being of the tree therefore takes a back seat, as the nature of the goal justifies it. Although this method causes harm to the tree, it sometimes avoids its felling.
Tree trimming
As a reminder, pruning is a long-term maintenance action. It needs to be planned. It cares about the tree. No gesture is left to chance. Only the indispensable is done.
Here is a section of tree that is dead: it must be cut back. This one is fragile, this one is broken, same thing: they are removed. These branches persist in intertwining to the point of damaging their respective growth: they are cut off, so that each can now grow without hindrance. They are left to breathe.
It is all very well to aim for a different silhouette for your tree, to give it only the best possible growing conditions or to encourage it to adopt a different direction as it grows... because otherwise it would threaten a building, because you don't want it to cast a shadow where you don't want one, because it would then stand more upright; each time, the constitution of the plant must never be compromised. The planning, its stages, the techniques carried out during each visit, everything is methodically thought out; each action is part of an overall plan. You will therefore understand that since a pruning operation is planned over a long period of time, the technique can be a preventive measure. Indeed, since it involves predicting not only the final result to be achieved but also the future impacts on the evolution of the tree. Therefore, well thought-out pruning that is started early enough can avoid future pruning. Shredding