February is what I consider to be pruning time for many of our landscape trees and shrubs. We are already receiving calls from homeowners about how and when to prune landscape plants in our area.

If you are interested in learning about how to prune your landscape plants correctly and when is the best time to prune them, then you should plan to attend our upcoming program on “Pruning Plants Properly in the Home Landscape” that will be held on Thursday, February 16th, at our Jones County Extension Conference Room here in Gray.

This program will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and we will cover basic pruning techniques and how and when to prune many specific trees and shrubs that are found in our home landscapes.

The program is free – there is no charge for you to attend. Reference materials will be provided to everyone in attendance and an indoor pruning demonstration will be included as a part of the program.

The Jones County Extension Conference Room is located in the Jones County Government Center on Highway 11 North in Gray at 166 Industrial Boulevard. Participants attending our evening program on February 16th can enter our conference room on the north end of the Government Center Building through the end doors that have our County Extension and 4-H Signs on them. Signs will be posted for direction as well.

In order to make sure that we have enough program reference materials available for this program, please pre-register if you plan to attend by calling the Jones County Extension Office at 986-3958 by Tuesday, February 14th.

Don’t Top Trees When Pruning

I have talked with several people recently about pruning back some different fruit and shade trees. One of the questions that I have been asked is about “topping” or cutting back tree tops to reduce the height of the trees.

The practice of “topping” is one pruning practice that we do not recommend. There are several reasons why “topping” or “nubbing” back tree tops is a bad idea.

First of all, tree branches that are cut in half with part of the limb still left provide a large area where the cut is made that will not heal over and creates an open wound for disease and insects to enter the tree and cause wood rot and decay.

Second, topping ruins the natural shape of the tree. Trees grow in various shapes and sizes but topping back a tree causes a lot of bushy growth to occur as a response to the top pruning. This bushy growth will not look natural in the top of the tree and will cause shading problems within the tree canopy.

Third, in the case of fruit trees, topping can reduce fruit buds and fruiting because the bushy vegetative growth that will occur where the pruning cuts are made will reduce the amount of sunlight the tree will need and receive in order to set fruiting buds.

Finally, many branches that will grow out from the pruning cut area will tend to grow upright and produce V-shaped angles between the branch and central leader that are weak and can split during high wind storms.

For all of these reasons, don’t top back trees. If you want to prune them properly, cut complete limbs out of the tree canopy area and cut them back to a larger limb or central leader. Pick out weak limbs or limbs that grow across one another or rub against each other to cut out of the tree canopy to improve the amount of sunlight the tree receives as it grows. If you want a shorter tree in the case of a fruit tree, plant a dwarf variety of fruit tree that will not grow taller than you want it to.

For more information on pruning fruit and shade trees, call the Jones County Extension Office at 986-3958.