Little Rock Tree Trimming

Tree Services Little Rock, AR

Do you want your trees to not only look good, but have a healthy lifespan, too? If so, tree trimming is a must-have item for your property’s curb appeal!

The certified arborists at David’s Tree Service, who serve the Little Rock area, provide both aesthetic and essential tree services to not only help your trees look good, but to retain their healthy structures.

Take a look at some common tree trimming techniques you might see our arborists use, as well as some that we would not recommend at all in order for your tree to continue to grow and thrive.

Techniques for Trimming Trees

Tree trimming can take on many forms. You might see an arborist engage in any of the following during their visit to your home or business:

Tree Trimming for Tree Health

Although not exclusively done only to help the tree’s health, the three techniques described below alleviate concerns focused on tree problems that might impact a tree’s ability to grow and be a safe addition to a property.

• Raising is a practice where limbs and branches are removed or trimmed so that the tree’s canopy is elevated. When the canopy is elevated through raising, sunlight can better access the grass and the house or backyard near the tree has better visibility.
• Crown reduction helps reduce the number of limbs at the top part of the tree – the canopy, as previously described – and keeps the tree from being too top-heavy. While some tree trimmers follow bad practices like tree topping, which effectively kill the tree’s healthy growth, crown reduction keeps heavier limbs from weighing it down.
• Deadwooding prevents future decay on a tree and allows the tree’s dead areas to heal through removing broken, dead tree limbs and branches. This practice can also keep limbs from falling and hurting people, animals, and others because due to neglecting tree maintenance.

What time of year is best for tree trimming? | Read our blog

Tree Trimming for Aesthetic Purposes

Aesthetic tree trimming refers to trimming that makes trees look beautiful. Put simply, trimming a tree to shape it or make it more uniform to neighboring trees generally keeps it looking nice, but it can also affect the health of the tree in a positive way if done correctly.

• Pruning and shaping make trees look more uniform through carefully choosing where and how they trim smaller ornamental trees. This does not mean that this same technique should not be applied to larger ones, but it is usually done with the intent to make a tree grouping more alike.
• Selective trimming refers to not only helping trees avoid crossover or overcrowding, making this technique also utilitarian, but the way in which an arborist might choose to trim a tree so as to keep its integrity and also maintain its beauty. For example, if a collar cut is used to cut down a limb, as opposed to a flush cut, the arborist’s intent is likely to not only keep the tree healthy and safe, but also to avoid risk having the tree’s open wounds exposed to the elements and to pests that might harm it. Another type of harmful practice such as lion-tailing might be just as harmful as a flush cut, if not more so, because it leaves what is left of a tree’s canopy open to the elements and can turn the tree into a hazard. It also isn’t a visually appealing practice! Only a certified arborist will know which kinds of trimming and cuts can benefit a tree, as well as which to avoid.
• Shrub trimming controls the shape and size of a shrub or group of shrubs for aesthetic appeal, upgrading the appearance of any landscaping where the shrubs reside.