Can you cut back arborvitae

Clean pruning cuts are essential to maintain the integrity of plant tissue. Torn or crushed flesh invites diseases and insects. The best pruning tools are made of tempered steel and have a sharp edge. Pruning tools must also be the correct size for the job. For branches larger than 1 inch thick, a pruning or bow saw is the best tool. Ideally, pruning tools should be disinfected after each cut is made.

Following this procedure helps to prevent the spread of disease. As an alternative, clean pruners before and after each pruning job.

The best ways to sanitize pruners are to wipe the blades with a clean cloth or paper towel moistened with rubbing alcohol or dip them in a solution of 1 part bleach and 9 parts water. Apply a thin layer of oil to each tool blade after you finish pruning to keep it from rusting. Arborvitaes are narrow-leafed evergreens that respond best to selective thinning and shaping cuts to maintain their natural habit as opposed to overall shearing. Thinning cuts remove branches and twigs to their point of origin, or you can prune selected growth back to a bud to promote more compact growth.

Below: We reduced the sides, too -- sheared them back and then cut each woody stub to where there was green foliage or a green bud. Below: Since it's growing so well we cut it back harder.

We cut the sides short, left that tip full of new leaf as the high point to start establishing the new shape. We did this in early April to take advantage of the plant's natural tendency to produce new shoots in spring. It may look like nothing more than a bunch of wood -- and you might think it's dead wood, since an arb doesn't sprout from any woody part that's stopped producing leaves. Right: However, just look at all the green buds that were showing themselves in early spring, because our cutback the previous year let sun in to those branches just in time to keep them in production.

Below, left: And here it is ten minutes after that, once we've trimmed it for shape. The most significant cut in establishing that new narrower shape was to cut out the too-wide branches we'd left in place as energy sources. As we showed in the drawings of this overall process. Below, right: Finally, compare what we have now to where we started at the top of this page.

Overall, we reduced this arb to a bit more than half its former self. We won't let it get away from us again. Please put a Sponsor message here. We need your help to keep writing! Home What's Up! In this section: The most recent articles Main features this season This week in our gardens Green thumbs up, down Tip cuttings Mentors' magic The 45mph garden Aiming for answers: Hit or miss Big mistake, big lesson Forsythia buds killed Killer holiday lights Allowed iris in kitchen Arborvitae too tall Overplanted oops Tree stake mistake Clipped ungainly evergreen Under fence edging Little bulbs big spread Allowed a volunteer tree Enabled erosion A yew hedge died to teach me this!

Subscribe to What's Up Arborvitae got too tall Note: Junipers, pines, spruces and firs Lesson from our class Here is how we explain this cut-back in our class, Fine pruning the landscape. Lessons from life Here's that process happening on two healthy arbs in good growing conditions. New growth is encouraged at that point; thus, wipe your pruning shears with rubbing alcohol after you make each cut. You do this, and the appearance of dead zones and old wood is reduced as the tree interior receives sunlight.

When you cut the leader trunk close to the ground, it will remove competing leaders and keep leaders to only three. To maintain the shape and integrity of plant and trunk tissue, clean pruning cuts are a must. Evergreen arborvitaes like the Thuja plicata are attractive members of the Cupressacea family. Although light trimming to rectify growth issues for appearance is the main recommendation, the plants can withstand substantial pruning.

Arborvitaes develop vertical shoots that shadow lower branches, and thus carefully thinning these lets sunlight and air reach all areas of your tree. Arborvitaes constantly grow to prune lightly, yet cutting the top off arborvitaes, will affect their growth and appearance and thus should be avoided. Arborvitaes are narrow-leafed evergreens that react to thinning and shaping rather than the overall shearing to maintain their natural habit.

Thinning cuts can snip shoot tips and thin branches back to the buds to produce healthy, compact growth. Most arborvitaes are disease-resistant, yet if you spot arborvitae needle blight with yellowish foliage or the tips of twigs are brown or black, remove them as quickly as possible. Diseased twigs and branches have to be cut back to healthy wood and remove dead or damaged branches in the same way.

Read How to Trim a Magnolia Tree.