- 1). Gather disinfectant spray, lopping shears, hand pruners and hand saw. Set up a ladder beside your tree if you're trimming a large tree and can't reach all the branches yourself.
- 2). Look at your tree. Notice dead branches that don't move in the wind. Identify diseased or damaged branches that are discolored, bent, broken or wounded. Dead and diseased branches are unhealthy and must be removed to protect tree health.
- 3). Prune away dead and diseased branches using pruning tools. Use hand pruners for small cuts, lopping shears for limbs thicker than 1 1/2 inches and hand saws for limbs you cannot cut with the lopping shears. After every cut, spray the pruning tools with disinfectant to prevent accidentally spreading disease.
- 4). Trim away suckers growing from the tree trunk and from old pruning sites. Also cut off low-growing branches that impede movement beneath the tree.
- 5). Remove branches that rub up against other branches, since their friction causes wood damage. Also cut off vertical offshoots that grow from branches. This growth is poor and will only interfere with the tree's shape.
- 6). Clip back branches one at a time to control the tree's size. Trim branches back either to a lateral branch or Y-intersection or to a node of swollen tissue. Use the hand pruners or lopping shears and make every cut at a 45-degree angle rather than straight on.
- 7). Step back and inspect your work. Look at the tree's size and shape, making sure that everything looks symmetrical. Remove additional growth you may have missed or cut limbs back further if you feel they are too long.
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