Best Time to Prune

           

Sharpening a lopper is important so that the plant is not torn when cut.

Would you let your doctor use a needle or scalpel that was just used on someone else? It is important to clean and sanitize ALL pruning tools. I like isopropyl alcohol. Here are alcohol wipes. Use a spray bottle of alchol if you want.

The Best Time to Prune

I had a college professor who taught the best time to prune was when the pruning tools were sharp. It was a little bit of a joke because most people believe the only time to prune plants is during the winter. That’s true if you’re using a chainsaw, reciprocating saw, hand saw or loppers but if you’re using a hand shears my old college professor’s advice was on the mark. If you’re using a hand shears to remove some offensive plant growth you can do it any time. Just make sure its sharp.

My pruning classes always begin by adjusting, sharpening and sanitizsing ALL pruning equipment!

Sharpen, Adjust and Sanitize

If you’ve ever taken  my classes on pruning you know that I’m a stickler for three things when preparing to prune; adjusting a loppers or hand shears so it doesn’t rip plants instead of cutting them, making sure the blade is sharp for the same reason and sanitizing these blades. You wouldn’t go into a doctor’s office and let him or her use a dirty needle or scalpel. The same holds true for plants.

Advanced stage of fire blight dieasese, one of many plant diseases passed along from plant to plant by dirty pruning equipment.

            Chances are when using dirty tools five times out of a thousand nothing will happen. We use the same logic for protecting ourselves with insurance; it won’t happen to me! In 50 years of pruning plants I have seen an actual problem develop from dirty tools perhaps five times. But I have seen unexplained problem diseases develop later to pruned trees and shrubs many other times. The usual fault is claimed to be from “borers”. Was it?

Sanitize Your Pruning Tools!

            There are at least eight plant diseases I know of that can be transferred to plants through pruning cuts using dirty tools. There are probably more than this. Once a saw, loppers or hand shears is sanitized it is always placed back in a scabbard, draped around a neck or hung on a neighboring tree but never laid back on the ground. Six of those eight diseases can come from laying sanitized tools on the ground after they’ve been sanitized.

            What to use for sanitizing equipment? I prefer spraying the blade with straight isopropyl alcohol, bought just about anywhere, after the blades have been washed with soap and water. Some people prefer bleach but if you use bleach then oil all the metal parts, so they don’t rust. In a pinch, I will wash the equipment and use a butane lighter to heat the blades. That works as well.

            Do you ever wonder where lawn diseases come from? Later in the season we will talk about sanitizing lawnmower blades. Lawnmower blades are terribly dirty and can spread lawn diseases from yard to yard as well.