What Is the Right Way to Prune a Tree?

The right way to prune a tree is to take out dead, crossing and weak branches, make each cut just outside the branch collar, and leave most of the live canopy alone. The popular shortcuts do the opposite. Cutting the top off a tree, taking off lots of live branches at once and painting the cuts all hurt more than they help.

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What is tree pruning?

Pruning means removing specific branches for a reason: they’re dead, damaged, diseased, rubbing against another branch, or in the way of a roof, a wire or a driveway. Tree trimming and pruning are used for the same job. Trimming leans toward keeping a tree neat. Pruning leans toward its health. A good job covers both.

How do you prune a tree step by step?

1. Start with the dead and damaged wood. Remove anything dead, broken or hanging first.
2. Look for crossing and rubbing branches. Take out the weaker one.
3. Find the branch collar. It’s the slightly swollen ring where the branch meets the trunk or a bigger limb.
4. Cut just outside the collar, not flush with the trunk and not leaving a stub. For a big limb, make an undercut first so the bark doesn’t tear.
5. Step back and look. Stop when the tree still looks like itself. A quarter of the live canopy is a common upper limit for one year.

What’s the science behind pruning?

Every cut is a wound. A tree seals a wound by growing a layer of tissue around it, but only if the cut is made in the right place. That place is just outside the branch collar, the slightly swollen ring where a branch meets the trunk or a larger limb. Cut flush with the trunk, or leave a stub, and the tree can’t seal the wound as well. That invites rot.

A tree also runs on its leaves. They make the food the tree lives on. Take off too many at once and the tree has to use up stored energy to grow replacements.

Myth 1: Topping makes a tree safer

Topping means cutting the top of a tree off flat, or cutting big limbs back to stubs. It looks like it would reduce the risk. It doesn’t. The tree responds by sending up a mass of fast, weak shoots from below each cut. Those shoots are attached shallowly and break easily in wind. The big wounds are slow to close, and rot can set in. Crape myrtles chopped back hard each winter are the classic example.

If a tree is too tall or too close to the house, a pruner can reduce its height by cutting back to a lower side branch. Or the tree may need to come down. See tree removal if that’s the case.

Myth 2: The more you cut, the better it grows back

A common rule of thumb is not to remove more than about a quarter of the live canopy in one year. Take more and the tree is stressed, so it may thin out, drop leaves or die back. Heavy pruning to “make it grow faster” does the opposite.

Myth 3: You have to paint the cuts

Wound paint and sealer used to be standard. Most tree care guidance now says not to bother. A tree closes its own wounds, and sealer can trap moisture against the wood. A clean cut in the right place is the best treatment.

Myth 4: You can only prune in winter

Late winter is a good default for most trees: they’re dormant, the structure is easy to see and the cuts start closing when growth starts in spring. But dead, broken or hanging limbs should come off any time. If it’s dangerous, don’t wait for February.

Myth 5: Trees don’t need pruning because nobody prunes the ones in the forest

Trees in a forest compete for light, so they self-prune lower branches. A tree in a yard has space, so it grows wide, with heavy limbs over things you care about. A little pruning when the tree is young costs far less than a big job later.

What actually keeps a tree healthy?

• Remove dead and damaged wood. It’s the safest and most useful pruning.
• Fix crossing branches before they wound each other.
• Thin, don’t strip. Take out some inner branches so light and wind pass through. Don’t remove the lower or inner foliage entirely.
• Make clean cuts at the branch collar.
• Prune a little each year, not a lot every ten.

When to call a pro

Pruning from the ground with hand tools is fine. Anything that needs a ladder, a chainsaw over your head or a branch over a roof or power line is a job for a trained crew. Never prune near power lines yourself.

Want a second opinion on your tree?

Call and describe what you’re seeing. You’ll get a straight answer on what the tree needs and what to leave alone.