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Our tree pruning dilemma should you prune ?

A great deal of effort and cost goes into sculpting your trees to be just how you want them. In our Blog today we look more into the fabulous Magnolia. We would like to share our knowledge and the science behind our desire to control a truly remarkable process within the nature of trees.

We need the light on all day

That's 10 bin bags of leaves down the tip today

My elderly neighbour slipped on the mess

These trees are usually sentimental to the house holder, but there is an expectation for the tree worker to take a saw and some how put right these issues ?

And so we set to the task, sensitively target pruning each branch system back as far as we dare. https://www.trees.org.uk/Trees.org.uk/media/Trees-org.uk/Documents/GuideToPruning-Web.pdf we use chainsaws then secateurs, we don't use any form of paint or sealant these days. https://www.rhs.org.uk/pruning/bleeding-from-cuts The finished result will be precisely what you want. but wait (Is the customer always right) ?

This tree has gone balmy, just look at it ?

This is just a wall of leaves, they only did this 10 months ago

It will be like night again when this gets its leaves

So these shoots grew over 40 cm in one season ?

Typically these shoots can occur from the pruned/cut ends of any branch

The three lighter upright shoots are new, the darker shoot to the left top corner was there at the time of pruning
Other shoots have rapidly established in the 12/14 months after branch removal

But also much older secondary growth near the site of branch removal will grow shoots

Side shoots appear from the bark of established secondary growth

After pruning what has happened here is the emergence of many new shoots making rapid progress in replacing all the material taken away by the saw. This precious tree never fails to do this right in front of your window.

What we are looking at here is called Epicormic Growth, where by buds complete with there Meristematic material have been buried in the woody secondary growth, this will leave a trace of cells from the bark extending sometimes right into the centre of the limb or branch Ref: Meier Andrew et al

Red arrows are buds breaking out, Yellow are buds that have a good chance of being incorporated in the secondary growth

Red are buds breaking out, Yellow are buds that could be incorporated in the secondary growth

These buds incidentally would be called Axillary Buds as they are located just behind where a leaf was attached, (note the half moon scar). some are dormant and may get buried and incorporated in the secondary growth, Note: to the top these are green and likely to produce leaves

What happens when the wood thickens over several years

So there it is, there are buds all over the tree. Some trees are genetically more likely to grow shoots like this, in particular our Magnolia. So importantly what have we done to cause this ? This complex year on year of growth, flowering, root structures, structural stability, all needs energy to power it, every living thing needs energy. Our tree gets this from the sun, fixing sugars with the assistance of Leaves and light or (photosynthesis). The leaves harness the power of the sun to feed our tree, (and we have just gone and cut them all off) From these dormant buds this almost 'instant' epicormic growth replaces the canopy loss within a year. For the trees this is truly an emergency tactic, Ref Hirons A. I should also point out: (we only prune trees for our needs) there is no 'biological' benefit to the tree whatsoever. However our Magnolia is just able to cope with this trauma, a good number of our trees after several savaging's by chain saw will die and many other species as they get older are less likely to be able to produce epicormic shoots.

So we cant leave the tree like it is. What are our options ?

Appreciate