DIY Spring Time Tree Pruning

by Little Homestead In Boise

6 Materials

$35.00

3 Hours

Medium

Want to save some money this Spring on a professional tree pruning? See how to safely prune your tree yourself and keep your tree happy and healthy! Whether fruit tree or not, save some money!

Last year we had our huge maple tree in the backyard pruned by a professional. We decided to get a bid on having the front large apple tree pruned this spring. $250.00. After looking at it, and seeing what was available locally for rental, hubby Dave and I decided to have him rent a really tall aluminum orchard ladder and tackle it ourselves. It was 16' high. It's much much taller than our wooden orchard ladder. We decided to go ahead and take the plunge to have Dave bring the tree height down by about 30%. He wanted to rent a chainsaw on a long handle. I vetoed that I thought it was just too simply too dangerous to be on a super tall ladder, leaning way out with a motorized saw! He wisely spent $10.00 on a hardhat.

We did have a bucksaw, a couple of different pairs of lopping shears and a Sawzall. I reviewed some articles about how to prune fruit trees to refresh my brain cells. Dave watched a few YouTube videos to help him also. So Saturday morning he went and picked up the rental ladder ($25.00), and I helped them unload it and set it up. Orchard ladders have a very wide base and are very stable, perfect for trimming trees and picking fruit!

I did not leave him alone while he was up there in case he had an accident. I also was able to describe to him what needed to be cut, since a second pair of eyes is always helpful. As the branches started coming down he would either throw them over the fence or they would fall down on their own. I stayed far enough out of the way to not get hit by any falling debris, always a good thing.

It took several hours, but all in all it came out really well. We saved $225.00. We also feel more educated on how to do this now! Good when you're trying to be more self sufficient.

Everything will be cut up and go to the city composting program and they will grind it up for bark dust. If you had a fireplace or wood stove you could season and use the wood. A win win! Just remember- safety first! We worked on a no-wind day, nice and dry.