http://www.seventreescompany.com/

Seven Trees Company, 456 S Main Street, Spanish Fork, UT (2026)

05/15/2025

Everybody loves free. Here at Seven Trees we have free firewood and wood chips and we can deliver both. Just let us know. We also regularly do free work. Sometimes it's good to give back. Tree work can be expensive and now and then it becomes too much for people to handle. We routinely help out those who just can't afford it. One time a lady who was down on her luck said she only could afford to hire us for 12 minutes. I said we would take care of her. We spent an hour or two helping make her trees safe. When we were finished she said she didn't know how she was going to pay us and started to suggest doing payments over time. I told her there would be no charge. She started to cry and even gave me a kiss. We are in this world to make money so we can keep the lights and my guys working but helping those really in need is what gives life meaning.

05/02/2025

I am often asked, “When is the best time to prune trees?”

The answer is always the same…”It depends.”

It depends on what is needed, what the concerns are and what you are trying to accomplish. There are many factors to consider when pruning trees and even professional tree care can still be somewhat subjective. There are benefits and drawbacks to pruning trees at different times throughout the year.

There are only three reasons to prune trees, to make them safe, make them look better and to make them healthier. If you can’t accomplish at least one of these three objectives then it is best just to let the trees be. Pruning trees just to prune them not only is a waste of money but can have long term, adverse effects on the trees. A lot of what is done for trees seems to be more for us and less for the trees. It makes us feel good like we are caring for them much like we do our children or our pets but it isn’t always what is best for the trees. With trees less is usually better.

Trees can be pruned throughout the year but finding that ideal time varies, depending on the tree and what is the desired outcome for pruning the tree. Spring seems to be the ideal time of the year for all pruning, especially fruit trees as pruning does encourage growth and a good pruning in the spring can prepare the tree for a happy and healthy future. One drawback to spring pruning, especially an aggressive spring pruning especially where clearances are concerned. Often when trees are pruned early in the year they grow back so quickly that they need to be pruned in fall. As mentioned earlier trees can be pruned all year long.

While the higher temperatures of the summer months do present challenges, summer is a great time to prune trees but the pruning must be adjusted to compensate for the hot temperatures. No more than a light quarter should be pruned from the trees and if any of the tree’s canopy is reduced then the trees should only be slightly thinned.

Trees depend on their leaves to not only feed and water the tree but also to help keep the temperatures in check. Removing too many limbs and leaves by excessive pruning puts the tree's health at risk and in danger of overheating, dehydration and starvation.

Fall, much like spring, is a great time of the year to prune trees. With spring while the trees are coming out the winter months, dormancy and coming alive, in fall the trees as they are winding down, going dormant as they prepare for their sleep and winter months.

While fall and winter pruning can be advantageous they also present their challenges. Fall and winter pruning become necessary when trees have become heavy and overgrown and it becomes evident that they will not be able to survive the winter’s cold and snow without breaking up. At that point it becomes necessary to prune the trees to make them safe and enable them to withstand the cold and snow without breaking up.

Winter pruning can be helpful as well and can be done when necessary. One benefit of pruning trees in the winter is that the trees are dormant or asleep. Pruning the trees during this time enables us to be more aggressive with our tree pruning where we can go beyond the normal guidelines and prune out more than we normally would.

One other downside of fall and winter pruning is the fact that over winter there will inevitably be some “winter kill” where limbs die off due to the cold. If the trees are pruned in the fall sometimes during the winter limbs will die and then when spring returns those limbs that died off over winter will need to be pruned out which might be frustrating as the tree was just recently pruned.

The key to any kind of pruning is hiring an experienced, competent and skilled arborist one that loves trees and is passionate about quality tree care. With tree work like most anything else, you get what you pay for but pruning the trees at the right time and in the best, possible conditions is also critical.

So in the end the best time to prune the trees will depend on the tree and what is wanted and should be discussed with your professional tree care specialist.