4 Reasons To Prune Your Bushes
Most people do not love maintaining their landscaping, but maintenance really is essential if you want to keep your home's exterior looking great. One of the most important elements of landscaping maintenance is pruning your bushes. Here are four reasons why pruning is important.
1. Pruning removes damaged and dead branches
When a branch dies or becomes damaged, your bush may still continue sending nutrients and moisture to that branch. These nutrients and moisture are wasted on that branch when they could instead be used to maintain the existing branches or aid in the growth of new branches. Pruning removes these dead and damaged branches so that your tree's nutrients are put to better use. Your bush may grow greener and denser as a result.
2. Pruning helps the bush resist disease
Most diseases that affect plants, including bushes, are caused by fungi. And fungi all have one thing in common: they like moisture. If you never prune your bush, the branches will grow in very densely, and they will trap moisture between themselves. This will perpetuate the development of fungal diseases. Pruning encourages more air flow between the branches. They stay dry on their surfaces, so there's less chance of disease -- and death.
3. Pruning Maintains a Tidy Shape
The natural shape of a bush is often not the shape you want to see in your landscaping. Bushes look, well, bushy, when allowed to take on their own natural shape. This may make your yard look untidy. Pruning, however, keeps the bush looking neat with defined borders. This is a better look for a modern home. How often you must prune to maintain this look depends on the type of bush. Boxwoods only need to be pruned once or twice a year, but faster-growing branches like junipers need more frequent pruning.
4. Pruning Keeps Pests Away
If you let a bush get shaggy and overgrown, it may become a place where insects and other pests hide. Then, it may not be long before these pests make their way into your home! Pruning the bush will create more space between the branches, so there are not as many places for pests to hide. It will also open up space under the bush so that rats, skunks, and other larger pests are not tempted to nest there.
Contact a pruning service like A Advanced Tree Services today, and arrange to have your bushes trimmed. The results are hard to beat.