Five reasons you should consider pruning your trees and shrubs this winter.

•  Fungus and insect control –some serious plant problems such as fireblight and oak wilt can be spread if susceptible plants are pruned during the growing season.
• Take control- the winter is a great time to prune overgrown and out of control plants, because to do it right you will need to take out some major branches leaving areas with no leaves.  Why not do this in the winter when all the leaves are gone. 
• Spring vigor –pruning in the winter will allow for all of the plants stored energy to be pumped into the remaining stems allowing the plant to leaf out and better recover from a rejuvenation pruning.
•  Better results – we can see the branching structure and form of the plant much better when the leaves are off of the tree or shrub this will allow us to make better choices.
• Stop the bleeding!  -pruning when cold reduces the oozing of sap from fresh cuts. Loss of sap from the tree results in a reduction of vital energy.

It is important to note that there are several reasons not to prune some plants in the winter.  For example, some plants may have dramatically reduce flowering if pruned in the winter!  Please contact Eichenlaub if you have any questions on this.  contact@eichenlaub.com