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When and How to Prune Trees in Connecticut

Pruning Trees and Shrubs

As trees grow, they need direction. This may be in the form of pruning, thinning, or removing deadwood. Barts Tree Service has specialized training and equipment, as well as an “eye” for what needs to be done. Pruning enhances the appearance and value of landscaping, but its importance is more than cosmetic.

Benefits of Tree Pruning

Removes weak, dead, storm damaged, diseased, or interfering branches
Can be used to train growth patterns of young trees which will ensure proper tree structure
Minimizes the risk of storm damage by reducing density which significantly reduces wind resistance during storms
Provides clearance for streets, sidewalks, driveways, structures, and overhead lines

When to Prune Trees

The dormant season, late fall or winter, is the best time to prune although dead branches can be removed at any time. Pruning during the dormant season minimizes sap loss and subsequent stress to the tree. It also minimizes the risk of fungus infection or insect infestation, as both are likely to be in dormancy at the same time as the tree. In the case of deciduous trees, pruning when the leaves are off will give you a better idea of how the pruning will affect the shape of the tree.

Types of Tree Pruning

Structural and Corrective Pruning (Formative Pruning)

One of our main objectives at Barts Tree Service is to promote proper pruning techniques. When a tree is young, it is essential to train the plant to grow properly and without structural defects. Unfortunately, many trees are left to grow wild for too long. Most of these trees have weak limbs and are often badly damaged from wind and storms. These weak trees are extremely vulnerable to pest and disease invasion. Trees should be inspected or pruned periodically to maintain proper form.

Structural pruning is done to improve tree and branch architecture, primarily on young and medium aged trees. This proactive practice helps maintain form and eliminate future structural defects that will result as the tree matures.

Crown Thinning

Crown thinning is necessary on certain species of trees. Excessive competition between limbs can lead to structural defects and dieback. Thinning involves selective removal of internal branches evenly throughout the tree to reduce the density of the crown. However, it does not change the overall size or shape of the tree. Crown thinning opens the foliage of a tree, reduces weight on heavy limbs, and helps retain the tree’s natural shape. Crown thinning may also allow more air and light into and through the canopy that can help a tree be more durable during high winds of a storm and reduces mechanical stress on limbs.

Crown Raising/Lifting

Crown raising consists of the removal of selected lower branches to provide clearance to a specified height. This type of pruning should, if possible be carried out before a tree reaches maturity in order to avoid large wounds. This allows more light through and can prevent obstructions.

Crown Reduction/Shaping

Crown reduction is selective pruning to decrease the overall height and/or spread of the tree by systemically removing the ends of branches evenly throughout the crown, leaving a balanced and maintained shape. This technique is used for many reasons, such as to reduce wind resistance, to control the size of a tree in a restricted environment, or to allow more light into a specified area.

Crown shaping is not usually necessary on larger trees, but it can be helpful with smaller trees, such as flowering ornamentals and fruit trees. A plant that has never been properly pruned is most likely out of proportion and is at risk of losing its natural form forever.

Crown Restoration

Crown restoration pruning improves the structure, form, and appearance of trees which have been severely topped, vandalized, or damaged by a storm. It is typically performed when a tree has been let go too long and/or has had improper pruning done in the past (such as topping) and would need structure restored for safety, appearance, and the health of the tree.

Vista Pruning / View Enhancement

Vista pruning is selective thinning of framework limbs or specific areas of the crown to allow or enhance a view of an object or line of site from a predetermined point. Essentially, it opens a “window” through the trees for a view.

Clean Out Pruning

Cleaning out a tree includes removal of dead, dying, diseased branchwood, broken branches, or stubs left from previous tree surgery operations, together with all unwanted objects, which may include fungal fruit bodies, ivy and/or other climbing plants, nails, redundant cable bracing, rope swings. Cleaning can occasionally include the removal of healthy branches to promote airflow.

Utility Pruning

This type of pruning is done to prevent the loss of service (such as telephone or electric service) or damage to equipment. It is usually done by utility companies to maintain access ways while complying with any clearance laws.

Seasoning Firewood in Connecticut

The Problem With Wet or “Green” Firewood

Freshly cut wood has a very high moisture content. As much as 60% (or more) of the weight of a tree is water. At least some of this water must be removed before trying to use it as a fuel wood (See below for a moisture content table). Several bad results can occur from burning wood that is not fully dried to below 25% moisture content. (Such wood is referred to as “green” wood).

In green wood, the effective available heat is MUCH less, not just because there is less wood fibers in each pound of wood put in the wood burner, but because a good percentage of that heat must be used to evaporate all that water before those wood fibers can burn. Another VERY important consequence of burning green wood is that the presence of all that moisture tends to keep “putting out” the fire, therefore making it burn very poorly, which tends to produce a lot of creosote and pollution.

What is Firewood Seasoning?

Generally, the way firewood drying is accomplished is by “seasoning” the wood. Firewood is cut to length, split, and then seasoned (dried) in a stack, with air being able to get to it, for at least 9 months before burning (the DEP states it should be dried for 6 months minimum). The natural 60%-70% moisture content must be reduced to about 20% to burn well. The wood cells don’t lose much moisture through the bark; the moisture is most effectively removed through the cut cells at the ends of each piece.

Indicators of Properly Seasoned Firewood

Color – Wood should have a dull gray color.
Bark – A sure sign that firewood is dry is bark that is falling off the wood.
Weight – Dry wood weighs much less than wet wood (be sure you are comparing the same wood species).
Checks – As wood dries it will begin to split on the ends and display cracks.
Touch – Split a piece of wood. If the exposed surface feels damp, the wood is not seasoned.
Sound – Two dry pieces banged together sound hollow; wet pieces sound solid and dull.

Why Firewood Species is Important

Something to consider when shopping for firewood is whether or not the cord wood is mixed species or all one type.

If it’s all one type, you can use the below chart to get an idea of which wood species need longer drying times. For example, if you are looking at a supplier who only sells ash then you can have a slightly higher confidence level it’s all seasoned since it’s at a much lower moisture content to begin with. Looking at the below chart will show that seasoning a cord of ash will take far less time then a cord of red oak. I have stacked split ash in the sun for 4 months and it was perfectly ready to burn (although if I stacked it in the shady woods I am sure it would have required another month or so to properly season).

Considerations When Burning Green Wood

Sometimes you can’t help but burn unseasoned wood (though it’s not recommended). How do you know which species would be best under those conditions? It turns out that the desirability is NOT the same as for seasoned wood! While they are living, various species of trees have different moisture contents. If you suitably dry them all, that difference disappears. But, while still green, it becomes significant.

It’s possible to correlate both the heat-content of the wood fibers and the green moisture content to form a table of desirability for those situations when green wood must be burned.

Species	Excess Moisture to dry weight	GREEN ranking	SEASONED ranking
Ash	15%	1	8
Beech	17%	2	4
Black Locust	17%	3	1
Red Spruce	18%	4	16
Shagbark Hickory	19%	5	2
Sugar Maple	21%	6	5
Norway Pine	19%	7	14
Tamarack	21%	8	10
Black Cherry	22%	9	11
Yellow Birch	23%	10	7
White Birch	24%	11	12
Red Maple	24%	12	9
White Oak	25%	13	3
Silver Maple	27%	14	13
Red Oak	31%	15	6
White Pine	31%	16	21
White Elm	35%	17	15
Basswood	38%	18	22
Aspen	40%	19	19
Butternut	41%	20	18
Balsam Fir	44%	21	20
Hemlock	44%	22	17

Excess moisture is that percentage above the desirable 20% seasoned moisture content. So if you need to burn green wood, look for ash or beech, rather than fir or hemlock.

Tips on Buying Good Firewood

Ask friends and neighbors who burn wood for recommendations on reliable suppliers.
Shop around and select the dealer who seems most reliable and comes with the best recommendations.
Do not order wood by phone. Go to the storage area to inspect the wood and take a tape measure to check piece length and pile size.
Look for wood that is clean. Sand and mud on firewood makes it less desirable.
Either measure the piled wood before delivery or stack it (or have it stacked) at home before paying so you can measure it and confirm that you get the volume you pay for.
If possible, get the wood in spring and stack it in your own yard so you can control the seasoning process.

For further information on firewood or to buy firewood from Barts Tree Service located in the Danbury CT area click here.

Yes, Wood Heating is Environmentally Appropriate

fireplace

Did you know that by heating your house with wood or burning wood in your fireplace for enjoyment, you are taking a stand in favor of the environment?

It’s true, heating your home with wood does not contribute to the greenhouse effect the way fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal do. When oil, gas, and coal are burned, carbon that has been buried within the earth for tens of thousands of years is released in the form of carbon dioxide, a by-product of combustion. The result is an increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, the main cause of the greenhouse effect.

Although carbon makes up about half the weight of firewood and is released as carbon dioxide when the wood is burned, it is part of a natural cycle. A tree absorbs carbon dioxide from the air as it grows and incorporates this carbon in its structure. When the tree falls and decays in the forest, or is processed into firewood and burned, the carbon is released again to the atmosphere. This cycle can be repeated forever without increasing atmospheric carbon. Heating with wood, therefore, does not contribute to the greenhouse effect. Moreover, when wood energy displaces the use of fossil fuels, the result is a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

What’s killing our Hemlock Trees?

hemlock_branch If your hemlock trees seem to be dying and/or are covered with a strange, white fuzzy substance, it’s probably due to an infestation by Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA).

The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Adelges tsugae Annand) is a destructive fluid-feeding insect pest that feeds on eastern North American hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis and T. caroliniana). It is native to Japan, and was accidentally introduced to this continent earlier this century.

HWA first appeared in Connecticut in 1985, probably as a result of dispersal by hurricane Gloria from Long Island, where infestations had existed several years previously. HWA is dispersed by wind, birds, deer, and humans, and is moving north at a rate of about 30 kilometers per year. The most obvious sign of infestation is the presence of white woolly egg sacs on the underside of hemlock needles, especially on new growth.

Lifecycle of the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid

Hemlock woolly adelgid has two generations per year in Connecticut. All populations are made up of females that reproduce asexually. In early spring, overwintering females lay between 100 and 300 eggs in the woolly egg sacs beneath the branches. Mobile larvae, known as crawlers, emerge from the eggs in April or May to search for suitable feeding sites. Wind, birds and mammals often spread crawlers to nearby hemlocks.

Once settled at the base of hemlock needles, crawlers become immobile nymphs which feed and mature into wingless or winged adult females by early summer. lifecycle of hemlock woolly adelgid The winged form will die after searching for a suitable spruce tree that is not found in North America. The wingless form lays another 100 to 300 eggs on hemlock. Crawlers emerge from these eggs to search for suitable feeding sites.

Once settled, the hemlock woolly adelgid becomes dormant until October or November, when it resumes development. Feeding continues throughout the winter and early spring by piercing at the base of the needles. Shortly after infestation, this feeding has the effect of desiccating the needles and causing them to die and fall to the ground.

Infested trees usually die within 9 years, and have been killed in as little as 4 years. In areas such as southern Connecticut which have been infested for several years, massive hemlock die-offs are occurring.

In contrast, it appears that in Japan hemlocks are protected by the presence of abundant and efficient natural enemies to HWA. Current research on HWA is focusing on the identification of a natural predator which will remain viable and effective at regulating HWA populations if introduced to the northeastern United States. The results of this research are promising. In small introductions of Pseudoscymnus tsugae, a coccinellid beetle, to infested Connecticut hemlock stands, the beetle appears to be successful at greatly reducing HWA numbers. The next test for P. tsugae will be to determine whether or not it can maintain its population and keep pace with HWA’s migrations northward at sufficient densities to regulate HWA populations.

How to Recognize Hemlock Woolly Adelgid

White woolly egg sacs on the underside of hemlock needles
Thinning of needles (less dense)
Grayish-green appearance (hemlocks naturally have a shiny, dark green color)

How to Control Hemlock Woolly Adelgid

Horticultural oil (2 % or lower) or insecticidal soap sprays can be applied at anytime but preferably in spring, to suffocate HWA on accessible trees but applications are costly and impractical for large scale control. Coverage needs to be thorough to be effective and needs to be repeated annually to prevent reintroductions from taking hold. These least toxic options are preferable to other pesticides as there are minimal impacts on beneficial or non-target organisms. Chemical control is also limited in its use in the forest setting, although newer chemicals such as imidacloprid (Bayer Corporation) are increasingly used for systemic treatments by arborists to control HWA. Soil drench imidacloprid applications are now available for homeowner use.

However, the chief hope for long term HWA management remains biological control using introduced specialist predators from Japan , China and British Columbia, Canada. The only mass-reared predator from Japan currently available for implementation in infested eastern states is Pseudoscymnus tsugae (Coleoptera:Coccinellidae), a tiny black ladybeetle, about 2mm in length, of the Tribe Scymnini from Japan. Over eight years of careful research at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, largely supported by the USDA Forest Service, has documented its life history, biology and potential as a biological control agent, including experimental field releases and short-term impact on HWA in Connecticut and Virginia. Field release sites are still being monitored and assessed three to five years after release. The predator is considered established in Connecticut where overwintering adults have been recorded yearly since its first release in 1995 and reproduction has been documented in the field. To date, nearly a million P. tsugae have been released in over 100 sites in 15 eastern states from Georgia to Maine and this species has also been recovered from release sites in other states. Other related ladybeetle predators from China (various Scymnus species), and a derodontid beetle, Laricobius nigrinus , from British Columbia, are under investigation as additional biological control agents at the USDA Forest Service, Hamden, Connecticut, and at Virginia Polytechnic and State University, respectively. Yet another avenue being explored is that of entomopathogenic fungi for biological control of HWA at the University of Vermont.

Trees Helping Our Environment

Trees lower air temperature by evaporating water in their leaves.
One acre of trees removes up to 2.6 tons of carbon dioxide each year.
The average tree in metropolitan area only survives about 8 years!
Trees keep our air supply fresh by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen.
The death of one 70-year old tree would return over three tons of carbon to the atmosphere.
One acre of trees can absorb as much carbon as is produced by a car driven up to 8700 miles in one year
The amount of oxygen produced by an acre of trees per year equals the amount consumed by 18 people annually. One tree produces nearly 260 pounds of oxygen each year.
Trees provide shade and shelter, reducing yearly heating and cooling costs by 2.1 billion dollars.
Shade trees can make buildings up to 20 degrees cooler in the summer
A tree does not reach its most productive stage of carbon storage for about 10 years.
Trees cut down noise pollution by acting as sound barriers.
Tree roots stabilize the soil and prevent erosion.
Trees improve water quality by slowing and filtering rain water as well as protecting aquifers and watersheds.
Trees provide protection from downward fall of rain, sleet, and hail as well as reduce storm run-off and the possibility of flooding.
Trees provide food and shelter for wildlife.
Trees located along streets act as a glare and reflection control.

Call us today at 203-240-1302

When and How to Prune Trees in Connecticut

Pruning Trees and Shrubs

Benefits of Tree Pruning

When to Prune Trees