What is a pruner?
A pruner, also known as pruning shears or hand pruners, is a specialized tool used for cutting and trimming plants. It is designed to make clean cuts on plant stems and branches, ensuring the plant’s health and promoting growth. Pruning is more intricate and often involves making precise cuts to encourage specific growth patterns. Trimming: Trimming, on the other hand, is more about maintaining a tidy appearance. It focuses on cutting back overgrown or unruly foliage to achieve a desired shape or size.As a rule of thumb, at each pruning, remove no more than one-third of a shrub or tree. Over-pruning = risk of shock or overreaction. Removing more risks sending the plant into shock or promoting overly vigorous growth at the site of the cut, which defeats the purpose of pruning.There are three types of pruning cuts: removal cuts, reduction cuts, and heading cuts, each of which is executed and used differently. Note: In this publication, the term “trunk” refers to the trunk or parent branch, and “side branch” refers to the adjacent side branch arising from the trunk (parent branch).Trimming is the process of cutting away overgrowth on plants to keep them looking neat while pruning aims to remove dead or diseased branches to maintain the plant’s health. Keep reading to learn how trimming is different from pruning, and why your trees and shrubs need both.
Are pruners the same as secateurs?
Secateurs, also known as pruners or scissors, are essential tools for one-handed plant cutting. But did you know there are two distinct types -anvil and bypass? Understanding the difference between them is crucial for getting the best results. Think of loppers as a more powerful version of secateurs, with much longer handles. These lengthy handles have two major benefits: they increase your reach and provide added leverage to cut through thicker objects, which is why they’re the best pruning clippers to use on branches up to two inches thick.When branches are too thick for hand pruners, loppers step in. These two-handed tools are perfect for cutting branches up to 2 inches in diameter. Like hand pruners, bypass loppers are ideal for live wood, while anvil loppers work better on deadwood.At the most basic level, a bypass pruner is ideal for pruning and cutting live green stems. This tool makes the cleanest cuts, allowing the plant to properly heal and promote new growth. An anvil pruner easily cuts through dense material, like hard deadwood, without risking the plant, tree or tool.
What is another name for hand pruners?
Pruning shears, also called hand pruners (in American English) or secateurs (in British English), are a type of scissors used for plants. They are strong enough to prune hard branches of trees and shrubs, sometimes up to two centimetres thick. The thickness of branches or stems: Opt for pruners when dealing with thick branches or woody stems, while shears are more suitable for delicate and thinner parts. Precision requirements: If you’re working on detailed tasks like floral arrangements or intricate topiaries, then floral shears are your ideal choice.Shears have thin, needle-shaped tips and short blades that are used for harvesting flowers, fruits, and herbs. This is not a pruning tool so much as a small, handheld harvesting tool for the garden. Pruners have larger, long blades and handles and they are designed to prune away areas of dead and dying plants.
When to use pruners?
Pruners can be also used to help open up dense shrubs. Removing a few small branches with your pruner allows light and air into the center of the plants. Pruners are also great for deadheading—the intentional removal of past-bloom flowers—which will make blooming plants look tidy. Pruning is the removal of plant parts to improve form and growth of plants. The reasons for pruning include: training, maintaining health, improving quality, and controlling growth. The first pruning of young trees and shrubs always consists of removing broken, crossing, and weak-structured branches.For small plants or young trees, you can use pruning scissors. For larger trees, on the other hand, you can use saws and loppersi. It is important to use sharp, clean tools to avoid damaging the plant. Pruning plants is a fundamental practice for the health and growth of the plants themselves.Removing the dead, diseased, and injured parts of a tree or shrub maximizes their vigor and aesthetic qualities. Removing vulnerable parts of the plant will also minimize the potential for pest damage. Plus, pruning encourages good growth patterns and improves air circulation.We want to create trees that have good light and air circulation, attractive qualities, and strength. Trees can be pruned in four ways for general pruning: crown thinning, crown raising, crown reduction, and crown cleaning. The crown of the tree is involved in each pruning method.