cold weather pruning

I

idahotree

Location
Boise Idaho
I have heard that it can cause damage to prune in sustained low temps. We here in Boise have been at freezing and below for a couple of weeks (avg. @ 28 deg.) and I can't seem to find any actual factual research on the subject. I can see a couple of obvious potential effects (newly exposed wood not hardened off, exposed wood with high moisture content) but as I said, I can't seem to find any real data, in the garden I will often take to heart the 'Old Gardeners Wisdom' but in the trees I like hard evidence. Stay warm today!
 
Zeke,

I've heard the same stories too. In all of my years pruning in Minneapolis I've nevere seen any physiological difference between winter and summer wounds related to temps.

If we were to consider the timing of wounds it seems that later winter might be the best. That way the tissues are exposed to the shortest time of drying out. Then, when growth starts in the spring, the new tissues will start to seal the wounds.

It would be nice to know if anyone has ever done any research about this though.

Tom
 
Hi Joe,I have heard Dr Shigo speaking about some species of trees that grow in cold climates at seminars in the past.If I remember correctly it was only the ability some trees have to fix water molecules to the the cell walls to avoid the cells freezing much in the way they preserve strawberries.Also in one of his books I can't remember which they all blur in to one after a while. He speaks about bad pruning cuts being one cause for the start of frost cracks. I can't remember reading anything on the affects of cold weather pruning on compartmentalization
or problems with the barrier zone caused by it.I myself spend half the year pruning trees in tempertures well below zero and regularly check the trees I have worked on in the past.I have seen very little evidence to lead me to believe this has any affect on the trees ability to seal the wound area once the dormant season has past.The problem of drying out I can't see as an issue as long as its below zero and the moisture in the tissue remains a solid its not going to evaporate.During sub zero conditions there are very few if any pathogens active so the tree is unlikely to be unaffected until spring when they become active again at this time the tree should start to seal the wound. Maybe the fact the tree has lower reserves at this point maybe would slow the compartmentalization of the wound???????????????? allowing a longer period of access to Pathogens.
But as I have said I don't see any evidence of this....
This is a very intersting subject I hope some other have opinions and information on this subject.....

Cheers

Didj
 
I'm with everyone so far. Very little research has been done on the subject. I could not find one article correlating pruning and cold weather. Just from experience, I have not noticed any reduced callusing, drying, or fractures due to low temps. Anybody need a doctorate?
 
I read about the timing of pruning wounds and rate of wound closure in Shigo's Modern Arboriculture. I believe he suggested that pruning wounds made in late winter/early spring seal the fastest with the least wood discoloration. I may be wrong though. In my experience, wound closure seems strongly dictated by the "quality" of the pruning cut and the vigor of the individual tree. Also, wounds from removing subordinate branches seem to seal better than wounds from removing codominants or large branches. I'm a strong advocate of Ed Gilman's mantra on structural pruning of young trees to maintain scaffold branches small relative to the main stem so that when removal of scaffold branches is necessary, the wounds will seal quickly. Gilman has a great website:

http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/pruning/
 
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