Making Your Own Soaker “Gather clean, empty buckets or jugs. Pierce the bottom of each with five to 10 tiny holes to allow water to drip out gradually. For newly planted trees, place the full buckets in the mulch ring. For older trees, place the full buckets about four feet from the trunk. Check to make sure the bucket is empty in several hours. iv Remember to refill your containers as many times as necessary to give your young trees 25 gallons of water. We recommend placing rocks or bricks in the bottom of the buckets to keep them from blowing away or falling over. v ” Find more information about watering on the Tree Montgomery website. Reforest Montgomery also has a convenient sign-up option where you can get reminders about watering.
Pruning Mature Trees Along with watering, pruning is the most common tree maintenance procedure. Pruning has potential to change how a tree grows. It is a way of manipulating the architecture of the tree by removing parts selectively. (Find information about pruning newly planted trees in Chapter 3 of this guide.) The scaffold branches are a mature tree’s framework. A well-pruned young tree will develop a strong structure that will mean less pruning over the years. However, a young tree generally won’t need pruning for the first one or two years.
Proper pruning helps trees thrive. However, this homeowner may be pruning too close to the branch collar.
In a mature tree, sturdy scaffold branches will
provide a graceful and functional form for your tree. Poor structure is typically a tangle of overlapping branches that will rub against one another and result in a weaker tree. A tree’s secondary branches should be well-spaced and balanced in appearance. Watch for codominant branches in a young tree and remove branches that compete with a central leader. If a mature tree on your property has codominant branches, cabling the tree can prevent a large section of the tree breaking off in high wind. Cabling must be performed by an LTE and is not appropriate for every situation. This guide covers pruning that a homeowner can manage. Major pruning high within an established tree should be handled by a professional LTE. A trained professional can climb into a tree safely to prune, and cable the tree, if necessary. We’ll discuss how to find a tree professional in another chapter.
While a tree is young, secondary branches that compete with a central leader should be removed. When branches become codominant and result in multiple trunks in a mature tree, damage can occur easily in a storm or a large codominant branch may need to be removed later.
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