Tree Pruning by a Qualified Horticulturist — Magill, Campbelltown & Athelstone

Tree pruning Adelaide homeowners can trust: pruning, not lopping

Lopping is cutting a tree back to stubs to make it smaller. It looks tidy for a month and then produces a thicket of weak, fast regrowth that is worse than what you started with. Proper tree pruning removes the right branches, at the right point, at the right time of year, so the tree stays strong, lets light into the garden and keeps a natural shape. That is the difference a qualified horticulturist makes.

What I prune

• Fruit trees: apples, pears, plums, apricots, citrus, figs and olives, pruned for fruit and for picking height
• Ornamental trees: Crepe Myrtles, Japanese Maples, Magnolias, Robinias, Prunus and flowering fruit trees
• Formative pruning of young trees so they develop a sound structure
• Crown lifting and thinning to let light into lawns and beds underneath
• Deadwood removal, crossing branches and clearance from gutters, paths and fences
• Small tree and shrub removal, and stump removal where access allows

Work is limited to small and medium trees that can be pruned safely from the ground or a ladder. Large trees, trees near power lines or anything needing a climber or a chipper are referred to a qualified arborist, and I will tell you up front if that is what your tree needs.

Tree trimming Adelaide: timing matters

Deciduous fruit trees are pruned in winter when they are dormant; stone fruit are better done in late summer after harvest to avoid disease. Crepe Myrtles are cut in late winter, Magnolias straight after flowering, and citrus only lightly, after the frost risk has passed. If you are not sure when your tree should be cut, ask. I have written a month-by-month guide to pruning fruit trees in South Australia.

What to expect on the day

I start by walking around the tree and explaining which cuts I plan to make and why: a crossing branch here, a water shoot there, lifting the lower limbs so you can mow underneath. Cuts are made just outside the branch collar so the tree can seal them, never flush and never left as stubs. Large reductions are spread over more than one season so the tree is not shocked into a flush of weak regrowth. Everything is raked up and taken away, and if the tree had disease, the tools are sterilised between trees so it does not travel through your garden. For fruit trees you also get a quick word on feeding and watering so the pruning actually turns into fruit.

Suburbs covered for tree pruning

The older gardens of Magill, Campbelltown, Athelstone, Paradise and Dernancourt are full of mature fruit and ornamental trees, and that is where most of my pruning work is. I also cover Norwood, Burnside and the rest of the eastern and north-eastern suburbs. See what moves the price of tree pruning in Adelaide before you book.