On Sat, 23 Oct 2010 17:27:39 -0400, "Don Phillipson"
wrote:

"mm" wrote in message
.. .

I have an evergreen tree, a fir tree, not a pine tree, but I'm not
sure just what the name is. The kind used for Xmas trees, I think, or
maybe not. The short needles on this are sort of sharp.

I had access on one side to the center of the tree, and I found myself
breaking off lots of the short dead stems, that maybe held green stuff
when the tree was younger, and then lots the dead branches some of
which still had dead "fir" on them.

Will this end up damaging the health of the tree,

I'm sure now it won't damage the health. I guess when I posted, I
wasn't even sure of that!

or more likely the
appearance of the tree? If I break out the entire dead center, will
the live limbs grow in dfferent directions? Or will it just look
wierd to have a somewhat empty insides?

Thanks for your reply.

No one can advise you much without knowing (1) how big this
tree is (e.g. 4 ft. 14 ft. or 44 ft.) and (2) where it grows (cf.
sunshine and rainfall.)

You're right. It's 25 to 30 feet tall, about 31 years old. In
Baltimore, Maryland, which gets a moderate amount of rain, usually
maybe more than "average", and it gets a lot of sunshine.

You can google (a) to identify what
sort of evergreen it may be and (b) how other people prune
trees (varying according whether they want to control the
size, make it fit into a garden context, maximise knot-free
timber etc.)

I don't think anyone generally prunes these branches because normally
one can't get at them. The very heavy snow fall last winter bent
down or broke about 1/3 of the tree, part that I propped up again and
tied to the main trunk, and the other part that died and I had to cut
away. After I cut off whole branches, the inside was visible. It
never had been before, on this tree or any tree like it.

So maybe I'm looking for a guess about how an evergreen tree that
normally has lots of dead branches inside will look when the branches
are all cut out.

The difference between a rubber ball and a tennis ball, maybe, with a
wedge cut out of each. The tennis ball is hollow!