FREE Certified Arborist Pruning Questions and Answers
During structural pruning, what determines the height of the lowest permanent branch?
Explanation:
During structural pruning, the height of the lowest permanent branch depends on the tree's intended function as well as its location. By promoting a sound and healthy development pattern, structural pruning aims to enhance the tree's longevity, health, and attractiveness. Usually, the arborist will locate the primary permanent support branches and choose a dominating leader. If any of the other branches will aid in the growth of the permanent branches, the arborist may decide to leave them alone or prune parts of them. The arborist will determine how high the lowest permanent branch should be. The lowest permanent limb of a tree that faces a sidewalk or path might need to be raised to a level where it permits pedestrian activity. The lowest permanent branch may be lower if the tree is by itself and away from busy pedestrian areas.
_______ is a cut used in topping.
Explanation:
For topping, head cuts are performed. Topping is a kind of pruning that is hardly ever used nowadays, in which the tree's top is chopped off at a specific height. Topping has several detrimental effects on trees in addition to being unsightly. First, topping severely limits the leaf crown's volume, which makes it more challenging for the tree to generate enough food. The tree becomes more vulnerable to disease, pest infestation, and solar damage when it is toppled. Last but not least, topping promotes the development of several feeble shoots from the tree's summit. The tree's already-strained nutritional reserves may be severely strained by these so-called "water sprouts."
The procedure used in structural pruning to reduce competing stems into laterals is called:
Explanation:
Subordination is the process of turning competing stems into laterals in structural pruning. Codominant branches have numerous drawbacks, so the arborist will attempt to avoid this issue by limiting the size and growth of one branch in comparison to the other. The process through which plant tissue adapts to a new environment or a colder climate is known as ""hardening off."" Cutting a shoot back to the bud or a branch back to its lateral, bud, or stub is known as heading. The usual reason for doing this is structural. In arboriculture, pruning lower branches to improve the vertical clearance around the base of the tree is called "raising."
Codominant stems are:
Explanation:
Two stems that grow from the same location and are about the same size are known as codominant stems. Due to the usually poor connection between the stems, codominance is not a desirable characteristic. Codominant stems do not develop a branch collar or have a ridge on their branch bark. To put it another way, the area beneath the stems is not as well-defended as it would be in the case of a single dominating stem. Furthermore, bark that becomes stuck between codominant stems increases the likelihood of a structural vulnerability that could fail.
What pruning technique can be applied to fix the issues that topping caused?
Explanation:
One possible solution to the issues caused by topping is crown restoration. In order to revive a crown, water sprouts, dead branches, and stubs will be taken removed by the arborist. A few sturdy branches will be chosen by the arborist to serve as the new crown's permanent branches. The restoration process takes time; to make the best pruning choices, the arborist typically needs to visit the tree multiple times over the course of several years. On the other hand, crown cleaning is the process of removing unhealthy, diseased, weak, or broken branches from the top of a tree. In order to promote light entry and airflow within a tree canopy, crown thinning involves cleaning along with the removal of a few healthy branches. The ANSI A300 pruning standards no longer accept crown thinning as a conventional pruning procedure for landscape trees; instead, it is mostly utilized for orchard trees. The goal of crown reduction is to make the tree appear smaller overall. The arborist will trim large limbs back to strong laterals or all the way to the source of origin in order to minimize the crown.
When is it appropriate to prune plants that bloom on the wood from the previous season?
Explanation:
In order to prevent the removal of blooming buds from plants, plants that bloom on wood from the previous season should be pruned shortly after they bloom. While timing is crucial for encouraging or discouraging the growth of flowers or fruit, it is less critical for removing damaged, diseased, or dead branches, which can be removed at any time of the year.
Out of the following, which is NOT an adverse consequence of lion tailing?
Explanation:
Barberchair is not an adverse consequence that happens when you lion tail. On the other hand, weak branches, burnt bark, and water sprouts might result from lion tailing. A water sprout is a shoot that emerges from the trunk or branches epicormically from dormant buds. Heat damage on thin or immature bark exposed to direct sunlight results in sunburn. Excessive pruning of the inner branches of trees may result in the upper side of the branches being exposed to sunlight for the first time, leading to sunburn. Additionally, lion tailing can result in branches developing poorly tapered and increase the likelihood of structural failure.
What is a witch's broom in arboriculture?
Explanation:
A witch's broom in arboriculture is a group of weak secondary shoots. After topping or other aggressive pruning, a witch's broom is likely to appear. These shoots use up the tree's nutrients excessively and don't create any long-term, fruitful branches.
When there are codominant stems, which of the following structures is typically found?
Explanation:
Whenever there are codominant stems, included bark is frequently found. The bark is pinched between the two growing branches, resulting in the development of included bark between the stems. The branches become weaker and may be more prone to failure in the future when incorporated bark is present. In contrast, the branch protection zone acts as a physical and chemical barrier separating the trunk and stem. When there are codominant stems, there is typically no branch protection zone, which can stop disease or decay within the branch from getting to the trunk. An expanded region at a branch's base caused by the tissue of the branch and trunk barks overlapping is called a branch collar. The branch collar gives the branch more support. A branch bark ridge is a strip of bark formed by the parent stem or trunk growth that sits atop the branch union. This structure will offer additional support, but in the case of codominant stems, it is either lacking or poorly constructed.
Which of these methods of pruning involves the arborist cutting the branch back to a point where it is relatively weak?
Explanation:
When doing a heading cut, the arborist cuts the branch back to where it is comparatively weak. Cutting the branch's shoot back to the buds, stubs, or nearest lateral branch that cannot take the lead is referred to as a heading cut, or heading back the branch. On elder trees, where preventing a significant wound on the trunk may be the goal, a heading cut may also be made. Reducing a branch or stem to a lateral branch large enough to be apically dominant is known as a reduction cut. Cutting a tree back to stubs, internodes, buds, or lateral branches that are not large enough to take over apical dominance is known as topping.
When pruning, how much of the leaf-bearing crown should be removed at the most?
Explanation:
During pruning, no more than 25% of the leaf-bearing crown should be taken out. Decline may result from removing a significant portion of leaf-bearing branches, particularly in elderly trees. The highest portion of the tree, known as the crown, starts at the lowest branch, regardless of how much lower it is than the branch after it. All of the leaves and branches make up the crown.