As Chicken Little once said, “the sky is falling, the sky is falling!” Well, the sky isn’t falling but the leaves certainly are in Stark County, Ohio! It may be hard to believe that fall has (nearly) arrived, and all that hard work you put into your North Canton, Ohio or Massillon, Ohio yard will soon be a faded memory covered by the brilliant colors of fall foliage. Hollinger Tree Service of Louisville, Ohio thinks fall is a great time to stop and really take a look and inspect the trees around your home. With the falling leaves, trees and branches become visible to the eye and any problems can be taken care of before the cold of winter sets in. Your Canton, Ohio area tree inspection and fall tree pruning can be performed efficiently and affordably by Hollinger Tree Services.
As a rule of thumb, Hollinger Tree Service uses this general guide when it comes to pruning trees in Massillon and surrounding Stark County: Prune trees, including all trees that bear fruit, in the late winter. Spring flowered trees should be pruned immediately after they bloom in the spring. Shrubs that bloom late, such as those that bloom midway through summer or have just bloomed late in the summer should be pruned in late winter or if you don’t get to it during the winter, early spring will work as well! Evergreen trees, those with needles, should be pruned in winter an early spring…evergreens can also take an early summer pruning as long as the temperatures are not excessively hot. Now, you might have noticed that fall was not listed in any of those suggestions for pruning. But, fall IS a great time to prune as well! Take a look around your yard in Canton…trees and shrubs that have lost leaves are often called deciduous. These trees or shrubs are perfect to prune in the fall! Look for dead or broken branches and promptly remove them before Mother Nature does! By removing the dead branches, you are actually forcing the energy of the tree or shrub to move into areas that can benefit from the nutrients, encouraging growth in other areas. Diseased branches must also be removed to maintain the overall health of the tree. If there’s an infestation of insects or a diseased limb, the tree can benefit from fall tree pruning by removing the offending parts, allowing for the tree or shrub to regain its strength and continue growing.
After a careful tree inspection, if you decide to prune the tree or shrub yourself, here are a few pruning tips from Hollinger Tree Service: Always prune your trees with clean equipment. Think of it like you are a doctor performing a surgery on a living thing! Your Louisville pruning shears should be sharp as well! When pruning from branch to branch, make sure and wipe the pruning blade with an alcohol wipe. This prevents cross contamination to branches if the tree is diseased. When pruning at the base of a tree or shrub, look for suckers—and not the lollipop kind. Suckers are new growth sprouting from the base of a plant or a well established branch. You do NOT want to prune these. Simply snap them or break them off by hand. Pruning them sends out a signal that they are being pruned and that stimulates regrowth! When it is time to prune, cut the branch at a slight angle and do not cut flush to the branch. Now, all that is left is to sit back and wait for the spring when your North Canton trees and shrubs will grow bigger and healthier!
If you find the process of pruning to be a little scary and are unsure about what you can and can not prune, it might not be a bad idea to contact Hollinger Tree Service in Louisville, Ohio. Hollinger Tree Service will be happy to provide a full tree inspection and fall tree pruning at your home in Stark County, Ohio and beyond—including Canton, Ohio; Massillon, Ohio; and North Canton, Ohio! Give them a call today at 330-268-2989.