Part one of a two part series on tree trimming explores the frequency of trimming your trees.
How Much Should I Trim Off My Tree?

As a tree service, we’re often asked by customers “how much should I trim off my tree?” How much you should trim off your tree is only part of the problem. You also want to make sure you’re trimming the right material off your tree.What is the right material? Well, for one thing, if you have dead or dying branches on your tree, you should get them off as soon as possible, unless you are exceeding a certain amount of pruning. For example, a good figure is 25% maximum of the tree’s total foliage in order to keep the tree healthy. This figure also includes the dead branches as well.
Why Can’t I Trim More Than 25% of My Tree?
Well, just as continuous bark is necessary for your tree’s circulation, you want to make sure that your tree’s branches aren’t trimmed too far back. Particularly in Arizona, the more branches you have, the more water it will catch during a rainstorm, and the more water the root system will receive. If you trim too many branches off, your tree will not get enough water unless you go to a higher level of watering. Also, the nutrient level will drop.
When you do tree pruning, make sure that you cut at an angle, particularly upward pointing branches, as this will allow water to flow down the tree better.
When you’re in doubt, you’re better off actually calling in a tree care service to help you. Tree services are professionals where tree care is concerned. And if you get a tree service with an arborist on board, you’ll be very safe indeed.
This concludes part one of our series. For more information on tree care, be sure to read part two as well.
Green ServPro LLC
600 W. Ray Rd. Suite B2
Prescott AZ 85225
(928) 356-8167
http://www.greenservpro.com