Pruning is an important step in ensuring your trees stay healthy and grow the way you want them to. Once you find an expert tree service to carry out the task, you’ll need to know when your trees need trimming. The guide below will help you recognize the signs that your trees are due for a shape-up.

How to Tell When It’s Time to Trim Your Trees

1. Unusual Growth

It is difficult to predict growth, but once you notice your tree is becoming misshapen, too large, or too dense, you need to cut it back. The same is true if the branches begin to cross or grow into a strange shape.

Trees need to develop at a steady pace and maintain an equal weight distribution to remain healthy, so deformities and uncontrolled growth can’t threaten their structural integrity and stability.

2. Dead or Diseased Limbs

Always be on the lookout for diseased or dead branches. If the death occurs in the spring or summer, you will notice the affected limb is leafless while the rest of the tree is green. Deaths later in the year will leave dead leaves clinging to the branches while the rest have fallen off for the winter.

Other signs of disease include large fungus growth and peeling bark that exposes smooth wood underneath. If left unchecked, disease can spread from a single limb and kill the entire tree.

3. Storm Damage

After a particularly heavy storm, take stock of your yard. Check for splintered wood, hanging limbs, bowing branches, and other signs of damage.

These should be removed by an expert tree service. Weak and broken limbs can fall, cause injuries, and damage your property.

4. Intrusive Growth

Trees can cause serious problems when they start to encroach on structures on your property. You don’t want branches growing into your home, scraping against your roof, or getting tangled in power lines. Handling branches near electrical cables is especially dangerous, so you will need to have a professional take care of them.

 

Do your trees need a healthy trim or shape-up? Contact the team at Lambert’s Contracting in Bluefield, WV, for expert tree services. Licensed, insured, and boasting over 30 years of industry experience, these residential landscapers and general contractors are fully equipped to handle all of your home improvement needs. Call (304) 324-7972 today to request an estimate. For a full list of services, visit their website.