I give numerous courses during the year, usually in the spring and the fall, to people who are interested in the care and pruning of trees.
There are specialized tools that are useful to the property owner for working with trees and woody shrubs. The basic tools are hand pruners or secateurs, loping shears, pole pruners and pruning saws. If I am visiting a property, I will sometimes ask to look at these pruning tools if I suspect the pruning cuts that are being made are not done right or dull tools are being used.
Many hardware stores and garden centres sell a variety of different tools. Some brand-name tools are better built than others. If you interested in purchasing these better-quality tools for yourself or as a gift, please contact me at your convenience.
There are, of course, chainsaws that can handle the cutting of larger-diameter pieces of wood, including tree trunks. I do not get involved with these tools, but I do put clients in touch with licensed arborists who can help the interested property owner.
One useful tool everyone needs if you own hand pruners and lopers is a metal file for sharpening them. Hardware stores sell many of the basic sharpening tools. However, for filing the cutting blade of the hand pruners, I find a small file that can work the tight angle in the cutting area. Again, you can contact me for a source of this tool. This will make an ideal stocking stuffer.
Gardeners usually have a garden spade for digging the yard. If you sharpen the cutting edge of the blade, it can make the job of cutting intruding-surface and below-surface roots easier. It is a sound practice to sharpen frequently used spades at least a couple of times during the growing season.
I frequently advocate in my courses and consultations with property owners the wisdom of not using chemical pesticides, especially when there may be better approaches to controlling destructive insects, mites and spider mites. The pressure of water from a hose or from a pressure washer can dislodge a great number of eggs and very small pest crawlers (referred to as nymphs) from the twigs, branches and stems of woody shrubs and small trees. Pressure washers can even dislodge pests higher up in trees. This should be done at least twice a month or ideally each week in the spring and summer, starting in early May.
The most problematic pests are those feeding on the undersides of leaves, especially of woody shrubs. Ideally, you will want to dislodge those pests as early and as frequently as you can in the spring season especially. Lee Valley Tools sells a device called a Bug Blaster that attaches to your hose. This device allows you to spray pressurized water onto the underside of leaves. This location is typically where the pests start their feeding activity.
Michael Allen M.Sc.F., RPF (ret.) is a consulting urban forester, tree diagnostician and certified arborist. He can be reached at 204-831-6503 or 204-223-7709 viburnumtrees@shaw.ca His website is treeexperts.mb.ca
