When you head out in the cold for winter pruning, be sure you have the right kind of pruners.
Handheld bypass pruners are among a gardener’s most basic tools. “Having the right pruners and keeping them clean and sharp will be better for your plants and make garden tasks easier and faster for you,” said Sharon Yiesla, plant knowledge specialist at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle.
Pruners come in two types: bypass and anvil. Bypass pruners have two blades that move past each other, like scissors. Anvil pruners have one blade that strikes against a flat surface.
“The bypass type is what you want,” Yiesla said. “If they’re sharp, bypass pruners slice cleanly through plant tissue with minimal damage.” A plant will recover more readily from a clean pruning cut, which is less likely to admit rot, disease and insects.
Anvil pruners crush wood rather than slicing it. They can have a lot of leverage that is useful for hard, dry, dead wood. However, they are too damaging to be used for pruning living trees and shrubs. They are mainly used by landscapers who have to remove dead shrubs or clear out large areas. “Most homeowners will never need anvil pruners,” Yiesla said.
If you have older pruners — perhaps you were given a pair, or you found them in the garage or basement when you bought the house — check to make sure they are the bypass type. If not, replace them.
A new pair of bypass pruners can range in price from $20 to $60 for the well-made, long-lasting models with replaceable parts that many professionals use. “Buy a pair that feels good in your hand and will be easy to sharpen,” Yiesla said.
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Sharp blades not only protect plants but make pruning easier, because they slice cleanly with less effort. “If you have a lot of pruning to do, you’ll really feel the difference,” she said.
A simple pruner sharpening stick or diamond file, which cost $10 or so, will make it easy to touch up blades often.
Hand pruners can usually cut branches up to about 1/4-inch in diameter. For large plants with some thicker branches, you may also want bypass loppers, which are simply bigger pruners with longer handles for more leverage and a bit more reach.
Even loppers have their limits. Some can only cut a branch about 3/4-inch thick, while others can handle bigger branches. Match the loppers you buy to your needs.
Some gardeners skip loppers and use a pruning saw for any branch too large for hand pruners. A folding saw with a 7- or 8-inch blade, which typically costs $20 to $35, will suffice for most of the pruning a homeowner needs to do. Newer saws have blades with teeth that cut on both the pull stroke and the push stroke, so they work faster and more easily than older models.
“Be sure that you’ll be able to replace the saw blade when it gets dull,” Yiesla said. “With saws as with pruners, sharp tools are better for both plants and gardeners.”
For tree and plant advice, contact the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum (630-719-2424, mortonarb.org/plant-clinic, or [email protected]). Beth Botts is a staff writer at the Arboretum.