Garden Talk: Time To Think About Spring Clean Up And Pruning

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• When Pruning, Wait For A Day With Dry Air, Plant Experts Say

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  Thinking about pruning back unruly trees or shrubs? Make sure to do it on a dry day, experts say.

  A good day for winter pruning is a “very dry” day that’s comfortable, temperature-wise, for the person doing the pruning, said Lis Friemoth, who provides concierge horticultural services through her business, the Garden Hoe. That dry air is important because the cells close quickly.

  To start the pruning process, “do it properly,” according to Friemoth. That means taking a step back and looking at the item in question.

  “Are the branches crossing? Is anything rubbing? Is anything dead? Those are the ones you take out first,” she said. “Then you can start trimming back.”

  Also, make sure to use clean tools, said Brian Hudelson, who directs the Plant Disease Diagnostics Clinic in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

  Hudelson recommends decontaminating tools just in case something was picked up when the tools were used to prune other items. To do so, Hudelson suggests using rubbing alcohol or a spray disinfectant. Spray until the tool drips.

  “I routinely recommend that when you’re doing pruning, as you go from tree to tree, decontaminate tools so you don’t spread things around,” he said. For example, Hudelson said, if cutting a dead branch, make sure to disinfect tools because the branch in question might have died from some sort of fungal disease, and that doesn’t need to be spread.

  Another tip, Friemoth said, is to take your time.

  “I absolutely think that pruning, especially when it’s for a really showy tree, is something that you take your time with,” she said. “When you doing it yourself, you take your time. … Do it slowly and take a step back after you make your cut so you can see, ‘where is my next cut going to come from,’ so that you don’t overprune.”