"Celtmoon :-\)" wrote in
:

Hi anyone, and everyone,

I can't ever remember posting here, but here goes anyway...

Is there anyone who can help?

Would it be advisible to prune a tree round about nowish? It's 8ft
tall, with branches all over (no doubt!!!) I think it's about 10-15
years old, more likely about 10ish.

It's a nice tree, but it's getting a tad on the large side. And,
although I can generally find information on pruning, nothing really
tells me when!

Any idea what sort of tree it is, Celtmoon? It may make a difference.
Generally, yes this is a good time of year to prune deciduous trees, as 1)
they are dormant, and 2) so is everything else, so if you saw a bit off and
it crashes down on something else accidentally, the damage usually heals up
in the spring.

(oddly this second bit of advice I have never seen in gardening books, but
it definitely applies...)

If tree is getting too big, it's tempting to just prune the ends off all
round, but (depending on what sort of tree it is) you may then end up with
the ends coming back twice as thick and spoiling the look of the tree.

As Dwayne says, usually better to prune off whole branches, even if that
does mean taking off a few big ones to make space for the younger ones.
Take them off at the junction with another branch, and you avoid the ugly
effect of a tree all covered in stumps as the branch will heal up and just
head off in a new direction.

HTH

Victoria