An arborist can determine the type of pruning necessary to maintain or improve the health, appearance, and safety of trees. These techniques include
General Prune is the removal of dead, dying, diseased, crowded, weakly attached, and low-vigor branches from the crown of a tree.
Thinning is the selective removal of branches to increase light and air movement through the crown. Thinning opens the foliage of a tree, reduces weight on heavy limbs, and helps retain the trees natural shape.
Raising removes the lower branches from a tree in order to provide clearance for buildings, vehicles and pedestrians.
Reduction reduces the size of a tree, often for clearance of power lines. Reducing the height or spread of a tree is best done by pruning back the leaders and major branches to smaller branches that are large enough to assume the terminal roles (at least one-third the diameter of the cut stem). Compared to topping, reduction helps maintain the form and structural integrity of the tree.
