Tree Trimming And Pruning In Fergus, Ontario

One Visit Usually Covers Both

Most people use "trimming" and "pruning" interchangeably, and for practical purposes that is close enough. Pruning leans toward removing particular branches for the health or structure of the tree, while trimming leans toward shaping it or keeping its size in check.

A single tree trimming and pruning appointment typically handles both goals at once. Our written quote spells out exactly which branches come off and the reason for each, so nothing about the bill is a mystery afterward.

How Much Crown Can Come Off In One Visit?

A single visit generally stays within a rough ceiling: no more than a fifth of the living crown, and often closer to a tenth. A healthy tree regrows that amount without strain, and the benefit typically holds for several years.

Push past that figure and the tree has to burn its stored energy replacing lost growth instead of staying healthy. The regrowth that follows tends to be weak and poorly attached, leaving the tree less safe rather than more. We put the exact percentage in writing before any cutting starts.

Oak Gets Cut Only In The Dormant Season

Oak wilt is a fungus capable of killing an oak outright, and it travels mainly through fresh cuts left open during the growing season, which draw in sap-feeding beetles carrying the spores. Cut the same oak once it is dormant, when those beetles are inactive, and the risk drops to almost nothing.

That is why oak work on our schedule waits for late fall through winter. Call about an oak in spring or summer and we will explain the reasoning, then book you in once the leaves have dropped.

A Poorly Placed Cut Causes Trouble Years Later

Where a branch joins the trunk, a ring of living tissue known as the branch collar is what actually closes a wound over. Cut just outside that ring and the tree can seal itself properly.

Cut flush against the trunk instead, and the collar goes with the branch, so the wound can never fully close. Decay then creeps into the trunk over the years that follow, often unnoticed until the tree is well into decline. It is one of the more common problems we find on trees somebody else has already worked on.

Topping Is Not Something We Offer

Topping is cutting the primary limbs back to bare stubs without regard for where a live branch could actually take over. A handful of outfits around here still pitch it as a fast fix for a tree that has gotten too tall, but what it leaves behind is a tree that ends up less safe, not more.

The stubs a topped tree is left with respond with a thick tangle of fast, weakly attached growth, and rot works its way into the stub tips underneath. A few years on, that crown outweighs the one it replaced and hangs together far less securely. If a company has already suggested topping your tree, ask us and we will walk you through what it would actually do to it.

Combine Tree Trimming And Pruning With Other Work

Tree trimming and pruning is rarely the only thing worth doing on a property with several mature trees, and scheduling more than one tree trimming and pruning visit back to back usually costs less overall than spacing calls out. If a neighbouring tree could use the same tree trimming and pruning attention while the crew and equipment are already on site, mention it when you book and we will quote both together.