5 Things to Consider for Trimming Gum Trees
Gums are iconic trees, known for their rapid growth, which can quickly become unmanageable if left untrimmed. Trimming these trees makes them easy to maintain and reduces the amount of leaf litter at your place. However, it would help if you always kept in mind major things while pruning these trees so that you can make them manageable and good-looking.
In this post, we shall discuss five major things to consider for trimming gum trees. Let’s read on.
- Right Timing is Important
While many people consider fall to early spring is the right time to prune gum trees, you should know that this isn’t the right time at all. Trimming your trees near the arrival of cold weather or post-freezing temperatures can invite diseases to your trees or even kill them.
The best time to trim your gum trees is during the summer. While the trees may bleed with sap, they heal quicker during the heat of summer. It is also important to avoid pruning your gum trees during extreme humid weather as it can cause fungal infection in them.
- Use the Right Pruning Technique
There are various methods to prune your gum trees based on the species and the landscape you want to see in your yard. Please take a look below to find out the best techniques for trimming your gums.
- Coppicing
When you cut a plan to the ground level, it starts growing stems, which needs specific pruning to give it a pleasing look and enhance its growth. Coppicing is the technique that you need to use on your small gum plants.
Therefore, if you don’t have enough space for keeping a gum tree, you can coppice your plant to control the growth and get new stems on your young foliage. The best part is that coppicing is among a few pruning techniques that suit all gum trees species.
- Pruning it for Hedges
Hedge pruning is the best trimming method for a few gum tree species like E. coccifera, E. archeri, E. suberenulata, and E. parviflora. If you want to shape your gum tree into a hedge, it would be best to trim it at the end of its second season. To give it a shape of a hedge, trim about a third of the height and cut it into a pyramid shape.
- Pollarding
You must know the species of your gum tree before trying this technique on it. After finding the species name, search on Google if your plant responds well to pollarding. You should know that the gum tree is also known as eucalyptus. For example, in eucalyptus neglecta, ‘eucalyptus’ is the genus’s name, while ‘neglecta’ is the species. Therefore, if you own this plant, search on Google’ eucalyptus neglecta pollarding is good or not.’
This pruning technique involves cutting trunks of gum trees about 6 to 10 feet above the ground and leaving the side branches.
- See if the method suits your tree or not
As we have mentioned above, it is important to determine the correct method for your gum tree. You should know that there are different methods of trimming a eucalyptus tree, and to give it a specific shape or growth, you need to choose the pruning technique that is best for your tree.
Sometimes, improper pruning can invite disease to your plant, and in severe cases, your tree may die.
- Hire a Professional for the Best Job
If you don’t have enough time or skills for pruning your tree, it would be best to pass the job to the professionals. A person without any training or knowledge may ruin the shape of your tree. Hence, hire a trained and experienced pruning your tree.
- Choose Pruning Technique according to the size
It is important to choose a pruning technique according to the size of your gum tree. While pollarding can be the best trimming technique for a tree, it won’t be a great choice for a plant.
The Bottom Line
By following the above points, you can easily give your gum trees a pleasing look and make your yard beautiful. If you are hiring a professional for the job, ask him the best pruning technique for your tree to enhance its growth.