Planting your trees is only the beginning. To keep your landscape happy, the homeowner should take the initiative to learn about tree health. This guide will walk you through why it’s important to start training your trees early and the different components of the training process.

What is Tree Training

Tree training is a set of methods that direct the growth of your tree so it forms specific shapes. Common training techniques include selective pruning and limb positioning. Tree training goes beyond aesthetic improvements. It also makes the trees healthier and thus grow more efficiently.

The Importance of Early Tree Training

Trees are more similar to humans than one might think. You wouldn’t consider education unimportant. Instead, you’d probably want your kid to start learning as early as possible, so they can develop in a healthy, stimulating, and creative way.

The same goes for trees. Young trees are more adaptable. Therefore, early training is more efficient and yields more lasting effects by building out a structure your tree would “memorize.” By doing so, you can significantly reduce the risk of structural issues as your tree grows.

Selective Pruning in Tree Training

The first and most popular method for early-age tree training is selective pruning. By cutting away weak, crossing, or crowded branches, you provide a negative signal against unwanted growth to the sapling:

“If a branch grows like this, it will get cut.”

This information becomes embedded in the tree so it grows in a strong, stable pattern. This way, you can prevent future interference or breakage from early on.

Important selective pruning tips include:

• Create a single, dominant central leader: a clear main trunk provides overall stability and a balanced canopy.
• Avoid excessive pruning: Overpruning may stress the tree and therefore slow the growth. 
• Make central cuts during dormant time: Pruning at the wrong time can stimulate undesirable growth or expose the tree to disease.

Handling Co-Dominant Leaders

Co-dominant leaders occur when trees have more than one main trunk of similar diameter. When main branches compete against each other for dominance, they create weak unions known as “bark inclusion,” where tree barks become trapped between main branches where they meet. Bark inclusions make the branches prone to splitting under wind or weight.

How to Prevent Co-Dominant Leaders

Early intervention, often known as “subordination pruning,” is key to snipping co-dominant leaders before they develop further. In subordination pruning, you select the “leader” you’d like to keep, and only prune from the other leader. With a few years of consistent work, you will notice more growth in the desired leader while the other branch remains small.

Raising the Canopy

To raise the canopy, you will remove lower branches strategically to keep the tree healthy while maintaining a strong overall shape. By doing so, you then encourage the growth of taller branches, quite literally raising the height of the tree’s canopy.

There are many benefits to raising the canopy:

• You get better visibility around large trees.
• Higher canopies are less likely to interfere with movements below the trees, allowing you to enjoy your landscape more fully.
• A higher canopy also allows better airflow around and under the trees.
• Taller canopies provide better shading from the sun than lower ones of similar size.
• Flowering trees with taller canopies may cause less severe allergy reactions

Fertilization Considerations

Different types of fertilization have different effects. Knowing which type to use can help you provide the most suitable nutrients for your landscape at the right time. Proper and timely fertilization is a crucial step in turf care.

Many use high-nitrogen turf fertilizers because they encourage fast leafy growth in grass. However, too much nitrogen can affect your trees negatively, leading to weak growth or pest issues, and may interfere with natural structural development.

To mitigate negative effects from turf fertilizers, consider using sulfur-based fertilizers to help balance soil nutrients. Sulfur-based can support healthy tree growth without yielding overly soft or weak shoots in your lawn.

Why Do You Need Tree Training in Your Landscape

Trees self-manage in natural environments like woods and forests. They shed weak limbs and climb up for better light exposure. However, your residential landscaping setting rarely provides the same conditions for automatic tree training to happen.

Trees in a residential landscape face numerous challenges, including:

• Harsher competitions
• Limited growth space
• Interference from human structures

Providing tree training can help your plants navigate their surrounding environment and learn to grow in a healthy and functional way as early as possible.

Where to Get Tree Training Services in Kansas City

Tree training is a highly specialized, expert-level landscaping service and should be performed only by knowledgeable, experienced specialists. As with finding a good tutor for your little ones, you should work only with professional tree and garden care companies in Kansas City with proven expertise in tree training.

Here are some things to look for if you’re looking for a tree training contractor:

• Check and see if the company has a dedicated tree-caring program
• Look for past landscape enhancement case studies
• Work with companies that offer ongoing services so they can help you maintain your landscape and spot growth problems early
• Ask to speak with a garden specialist (and run, if there isn’t a designated expert for tree training and plant health programs!)

Royal Creations Architectural Landscaping has experienced garden care specialists to help guide your trees into effective growth.