University of Florida

Home > Pruning trees > Structural pruning > Animations with and without pruning > Animation with pruning

Animation of spacing branches apart

The clip shows how to space branches apart along the dominant trunk. Removing branches (dashed lines) so the remaining ones are spaced apart, combined with keeping branches small in diameter (by shortening them -dotted lines), allows for continued growth on the portion of the trunk above the removed branches. This occurs because vascular tissue can develop normally around the base of one branch and supply the trunk above with water and elements needed for growth. But when there is a group of branches clustered together vascular tissue has a difficult time developing around the base of the cluster so the leader above gets choked off. This clustered branch arrangement results in poor form.