Episode #4: Tree Pruning with Martin Peacock

Host Charlie Albone speaks to Certified Arborist Martin Peacock about tree pruning. From Australian natives like gums and wattle to backyard favourites like citrus and apple trees – how and when is the best time to prune? What are the best tools to use? Should you take on the larger trees in your backyard, or leave those to the professional arborists? When planting new trees, how do you “design” them to strike a good balance in the garden?

Charlie Albone:

Hi, I’m Charlie Albone and welcome to episode four of That’s How We Grow in partnership with STIHL garden power tools. Now, if you’re tuning in to listen to Andrew Winter, he gave me a call last night, told me he had to get a fake tan done and then go and vacuum his fake grass. But don’t worry, we will be chatting to him later on in the series. You all know I love designing gardens, and designing a garden around some beautiful established trees is my favorite thing to do. They instantly become a center point of a garden and they can frame your garden design. Trees will keep your garden and home cooler in summer, shading us from the beating hot sun. We often take this for granted and rarely pay attention to the gentle giants in our gardens, but for their longterm health it’s important we remember to give them some love.

Charlie Albone:

Now, today I’ll be joined by arborist Martin Peacock. Many years ago, Martin and I studied horticulture together, and Martin has gone on to becoming one of the leading tree experts in the country and has a beautiful property just outside of Bathurst. From big gum trees to how to prune your citrus, Martin and I are going to be discussing how to best care for your trees. So, before the blossom has a chance to be blown off or the leaves begin to change color, let’s get into our chat with Martin.

Charlie Albone:

I am really excited today to talk to a good friend of mine, Martin Peacock. Now, Martin is the king when it comes to trees, shall we say. He has a National Diploma in Horticulture with an arboriculture option in the UK. He also has a Higher National Diploma in Arboriculture from the UK, and he has an honors degree in arboriculture.
But I met Martin when we were at TAFE together doing a Diploma of Horticulture specialising in landscape design. That was over 20 years ago, can you believe it, Martin? You were climbing trees back then. I used to do a bit of groundwork for you, and I actually remember the day that you got me in a harness to prusik up a tree with the world spinning around me beneath my feet. It was one of those terrifying experiences of my life. I noticed you’ve stopped climbing now. You’re more into tree reports and writing tree care programs. Can you tell me a bit about how you got into trees, why you love them, and what you find fascinating about them?

Martin Peacock:

Yes, absolutely. Well, we had a woodland at the end of the road when I was a kid and I used to like nothing more than skiving off down there every available opportunity, and climbing trees, building dens, doing all that sort of stuff that kids do. So, when it came to having to choose some sort of career at school, I thought forestry might be sort of a good thing to get into. And after I started to have a bit of a look around, see what sort of jobs that were out there, I actually came across something which at the time was called a tree surgeon, which sounded incredibly exciting. And the more I looked into that, I realized that you could actually go off to college and study it and get paid to climb trees. So, what better thing to do? I thought to myself, and got myself signed up, joined a college, a National Diploma course in Northern England. And that’s it, never looked back. I’ve been in the tree industry ever since.

Charlie Albone:

And tell me a bit about what you do these days, because you write tree reports, don’t you? Rather than climbing with chainsaws and things like that.

Martin Peacock:

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I still occasionally –

Charlie Albone:

What does that involve?

Martin Peacock:

Well, so most of the stuff is writing tree management reports for people; quite often, it’s people who are doing development work, so they might have to have a tree report done as part of their development application. And also, my role as the arborist is to basically help the architect, work with them and look at ways where we can sort of keep better trees and build around them and things without impacting the health of the tree too much. Also, the safety of trees is another important aspect, so I do that sort of village tree assessment reports where we’re just looking at the health of a tree and its structural condition and maybe making some management recommendations, just to make sure that the tree is safe and healthy.

Martin Peacock:

And I still occasionally get off a tree now and again, and these days I’ve swapped the chainsaw mainly for sort of other specialist tools that we can use, and often find myself poking around in tree hollows trying to sort of work out how decayed a tree might be internally and whether or not that might mean that we have to sort of make some recommendations for sort of occasionally pruning or removing a tree if it’s become unsafe because it’s decayed.

Charlie Albone:

Sure. So, when is the best time to prune a tree, then?

Martin Peacock:

Very much depends on the sort of tree that you’ve got. General rule of thumb, you shouldn’t be pruning trees generally when they’re in flower or in fruit because the tree’s putting lots of its energy reserves into producing those flowers and seed and everything for the next generation of trees. So, if you’re not really sure, winter time for a lot of trees is good. Certainly your deciduous trees, when there’s no leaves on them; it’s much easier to sort of look at the branch framework of the tree. And that’s sort of always a good guide as to (often) where to prune. You can see any sort of crossing branches or damaged or diseased branches that you might be wanting to take out. Certain trees, some of the fruit trees you’d probably want to be pruning them in the summer time, just because there’d be certain diseases which particular trees can be prone to. You’ve got things like your peaches, nectarines and apricots, some of your stone fruit; they’re some of those trees to prune after they finished fruiting in the summer.

Martin Peacock:

And then you’ve got your fruit trees like apples, pears and cherries that you’d probably look to give a bit of a winter prune and try and establish a nice branch framework with lots of fruiting spurs, which are going to produce next year’s fruit. There’s one or two trees that you shouldn’t really prune at certain times. In springtime, you’ve got trees like birches, mulberries, maples, magnolias and poplars, which if you prune them in spring can tend to bleed sap quite a bit. So, that’s something that you really want to avoid.

Charlie Albone:

And things like your native gums and stuff like that; when should you be pruning those?

Martin Peacock:

Again, after flowering is a good time. The tree, once it’s finished flowering and it’s into producing fruit, then it’s in the – well, depends when a particular tree flowers – but sort of late summer time you’ve got active growth and the tree often will seal over the pruning wound more quickly. Once a tree’s sealed over the wound, the natural processes of the tree’s compartmentalization helps to seal out decay and pathogens.

Charlie Albone:

Sure. So, what should you be looking at trying to prune off? You’ve spoken to me before in the past about how you’ve seen young arborists just completely taking all the dead wood out of a tree and you think it looks a little bit silly because it doesn’t look natural. Are you trying to remove all the dead wood? Are you trying to remove crossing branches? What are you looking for when you’re looking at a tree for the first time and giving it an assessment and giving it a good prune?

Martin Peacock:

Okay. Well, yeah; dead wood’s an interesting one. All trees are biologically programmed to grow to roughly a certain mature height, so it’s never a good idea to try and keep your potentially 30-meter-tall blackbutt tree as a 10-meter shrub, because if you keep chopping the top off it’s just going to keep desperately throwing back lots of new growth in an attempt to reach the mature size that it wants to get to.

So ideally when you’re pruning, you should generally be looking at… fruit trees excepted where you’re trying to potentially create a nice framework of which you’re going to harvest the fruit from. For most ornamental trees, you’re just looking at maintaining a natural shape to the tree. And from an aesthetic point of view, yes, dead branches can look quite ugly, so removing dead wood to make the tree’s appearance better is certainly something that you can do.

Martin Peacock:

It’s often with a big tree, to try and remove every little stick and small twig is a bit of a pointless exercise because the climbing arborist, if there’s somebody in your tree, can sometimes do more damage trying to get out every single little branch out with the tips. It’s more just taking out the more larger, dangerous branches. If a tree has started to become declining in vigor and becoming a bit sick, often you’ll get more dead wood forming, and that again can look unsightly, so taking out a lot of that dead wood will often improve the appearance of the tree. But sometimes people say to me, “Oh, we should take out the dead wood, shouldn’t we, because it’s going to make the tree more healthy?” Well, that’s actually not the case. It doesn’t make any difference to the tree really, whether it’s got a few dead branches hanging in there. So, it’s more about sort of how we choose to manage the tree from an aesthetic point of view if it’s in a garden setting, quite often.

Charlie Albone:

Sure. When you’re pruning a branch off a tree, you always go back to the collar, which is, it looks like the… it’s where a branch comes off the trunk and it looks almost like it’s got a skivvy on, right?

Martin Peacock:

Yes.

Charlie Albone:

So, you prune back to that point. And you do that because it’s what hormones in that collar, which protect the tree.

Martin Peacock:

Yes.

Charlie Albone:

Is the problem with crossing branches that it opens a wound? Is that the issue with crossing branches or is there any other issues with it, that you need to remove?

Martin Peacock:

Yeah. Again, you’re right there. Crossing branches, as the branches move around in the wind, they often can rub the back, abrade the back off each other, and then it creates a wound. And any wound on a tree, be it a pruning wound that you’ve created by deliberately removing a branch or a wound caused by storm damage, rubbing branches as we’re talking about, that creates an entry point where potentially, diseases and plant pathogens and things can get in there. And if the tree is healthy, often what it will do is it’ll actually seal off around the damaged area naturally, but in certain circumstances and with certain diseases that are a bit more, if you like aggressive, they can get into the tree and then start to affect some of the healthy tissue around the wound. So yeah, ideally a bit of formative pruning to remove crossing branches and anything that might be a problem down the track’s always a good idea when the tree is quite small.

Charlie Albone:

So, what is the difference then between pruning an old, mature tree and a relatively young tree?

Martin Peacock:

I suppose we’d be just talking about dead wood. I mean, certainly big, dead branches, assuming that we’re talking about a garden setting, you obviously want to sort of take out any dead wood that could fall and damage something or injure somebody. You’ve got to remember that dead wood can take a long time to dry out and become brittle and decayed to the point where it’ll fall out. If a branch dies off, it’s not like you necessarily have to worry immediately that it’s just going to suddenly pop off and cause some sort of damage but over time, bigger branches definitely periodically you should always cast your eyes over the tree and then see what’s going on up in the top of the crown in a big tree. And if you see any big, dead branches, obviously something with no leaves on or bark, something that stands out as looking sort of distinctly different from the rest of the tree, then that’s probably time to call in an arborist to go up and have a look.

Charlie Albone:

Is that done seasonally, do you think?

Martin Peacock:

It’s not a bad idea to have your trees checked probably annually or every couple of years at least. If a tree is very dense, then obviously it may be more difficult to see what’s going on sort of internally within the crown. But I suppose, I always say, now that we do have some quite severe storms and with climate change, the increasingly, the severity of storms looks like it’s getting worse. So, certainly after a big storm event it’s always worth going out and just, if you’ve got any big trees, just having a look around in the crown and see if you can spot any branches that may have been damaged by winds; cracks, branches which are sort of hanging at a strange angle or something that maybe have been partially broken but haven’t fallen out of the crown. Part of your day-to-day sort of activities in the garden, it’s always good to just cast your eye over your trees and sort of look up, see what’s going on up there.

Martin Peacock:

But yeah, certainly maybe every couple of years if you’ve got a big tree, or at any point if your tree suddenly changes in appearance quite significantly, then that might indicate that there’s something going on, which could be in the crown, it could be something to do with the root system of the tree. I mean, who knows? But having a professional arborist check out the health of your tree, yeah, is always a good idea periodically.

Charlie Albone:

Yeah. And sort of your younger trees, how do you look at pruning those? Because obviously, they’re a bit more accessible to get into.

Martin Peacock:

Yes. That’s it.

Charlie Albone:

Is it a different process or is it the same?

Martin Peacock:

Yeah. Well, again, we talked about formative pruning and looking at the tree, identifying crossing branches and things. I mean really, in an ideal world, if you look at a small tree which has crossing branches or some of the other defects that I’m sure we’re going to talk about shortly, you can prune those off with a pair of secateurs at ground level in a matter of moments. Whereas if you do nothing about it and let the tree develop, obviously as those branches become bigger you’ll get to a point where the home gardener – 10, 20 years down the track – isn’t able to remove these branches. And at that point, you’re going to have to get in a professional and it’s going to create a much larger pruning wound. It’s much more stressful for the tree to use some of its stored carbohydrate reserves to seal off the wound and all that sort of thing. So yeah, certainly giving your small trees a good once-over when you plant them and in the first couple of years just to get a nice brunch framework, and as you mentioned, removing any crossing branches.

Martin Peacock:

The other thing to look out for is what they call bark inclusions. These often happen where you get two branches which sort of are growing up together in parallel, and you get a seam of bark trapped between the two branches. What that does is it stops the wood fibers from knitting together and forming a nice branch junction, and then as these two branches, which are very well-knitted together, expand and grow over time they sort of, if you like, start to push each other apart. And these bark inclusions that develop between them, if you’re going to get a severe bark inclusion combined with a severe weather event; strong winds, et cetera, that’s when you’ve got a greater chance of a branch failing. By trying to look for what they call bark inclusions in the early stages and getting the secateurs out and dealing with them there and then, is a much better idea than sort of having to get an arborist down the track to come and climb a tree and start the chainsaw up and start taking out large branches.

Charlie Albone:

And when it comes to pruning in the home garden, every gardener has a good pair of secateurs but if they want to have a crack at pruning their trees, what sort of tools do you recommend?

Martin Peacock:

Well, as you said, secateurs, a small hand pruning saw for some smaller branches that might be good, too… for some of the branches that are a little bit too big for your secateurs. And then obviously beyond the hand tools, that’s when you start sort of getting into the power tool area, sort of either petrol chainsaws or a lot of electric tools obviously now coming onto the market, which are great because they’re quieter and generally a bit lighter and nicer to use. I think the thing with any pruning tools is get quality, make sure it’s remains sharp and clean. You should never forget that as you’re pruning, you potentially can be spreading fungal spores or bacteria and things between plants.

Charlie Albone:

Yeah. I think safety first as well when it comes to chainsaws. I mean, I’ve got a chainsaw. I’ve got a battery chainsaw, which I absolutely love for chopping stuff up. There are a few things you really shouldn’t be doing with a chainsaw, is there? Like waving it above your head. Juggling is another bad one.

Martin Peacock:

That’s right. Yeah. Yes. Juggling’s a bad one, yeah.

Charlie Albone:

Yeah. I guess if it feels unsafe, you really should be getting an expert in, but chopping up stuff on the ground is normally something that the home gardener can do. I guess, talking to your local STIHL dealer as to what the best tool is for you is a good way to go, and always make sure you feel comfortable and have the right safety gear, I guess.

Martin Peacock:

Exactly. I mean, as well as having a well-maintained, sharp, clean chainsaw, like you mentioned, the safety gear. Eye protection is essential. It costs… even just hand sawing something. I mean, if you get sawdust in your eyes! I’ve been in the hospital a couple of times over the years. Even with a visor on, stuff manages to get in there eventually. With the chainsaws, be it petrol or battery operated, I mean, obviously it can be incredibly dangerous if they’re not used correctly. So, you can buy chainsaw trousers, with ballistic nylon, it’s like thick material. And if you happen to catch your leg with your chainsaw, what it’ll do is it’ll pull out all of these loose fibers and it’ll block the saw before it gets a chance to cut through into your flesh. So, that’s always a good idea. And of course, steel-toed cap boots, seeing as most people are obviously flailing around often on the ground cutting up wood, and very easy to sort of nick the end of your trainer shoe and lose a couple of toes if you’re not careful. So, a decent pair of steel-toed cap boots.

Martin Peacock:

And the other thing to remember is, never use a chainsaw off a ladder. There’s good pole saws, again, both petrol and battery operated out there on the market, or even manual pole saws for smaller stuff. But yeah, very dangerous to be using a chainsaw off an unstable ladder. And another common mistake that people often make and can get into a bit of trouble with is trying to use a chainsaw above head height. If you put your arms stuck up at… if you’re on tip toes and desperately trying to reach something that’s up above head height, if you do catch your chainsaw wrong, it can do what they call kickback, which will flick the saw back towards you. And obviously, if the saw’s somewhere up around head height that’s just something that you don’t want to happen. But a good rule of thumb is never use a chainsaw above shoulder height. And then if something’s a bit taller, then you can look at using a pole saw potentially, or if you gets anything a bit too big or too high, and that’s when you really need somebody who’s trained in using a rope and harness and working at height, like a professional arborist, to come in and do the job for you.

Charlie Albone:

Yeah. Absolutely. I’ve got a pole pruner. I think it’s an HTA 86 that goes up to about four meters, and so quite comfortable working from the ground at that sort of level. But then when anything over that, you need to get in the professionals. What’s the biggest mistake you see that home gardeners make when it comes to pruning? Is it safety around tools or is it pruning incorrectly?
Martin Peacock:

Oh, I think certainly a bit of both. I mean, yes, definitely you do see a lot of unsafe pruning practices, especially with the power tools. So yeah, we’ve just talked about the safety gear that’s essential. And practicing with the power tools on the ground on a few sacrificial bits of wood is always a good idea. Just be familiar with what you’re using. Don’t try and bite off more than you can chew. When it comes to pruning trees, I mean, I do hear a lot of people that will say, “Oh, I need to prune my tree to maintain its health.” That’s a bit of a misnomer, really. I mean, a tree’s naturally going to want to achieve a certain sort of size and spread, and if you sort of feel that pruning branches off to try and control the tree is going to make it healthy, it’s not actually the case. You’re removing leaves. It’s the leaves that ought to synthesize and produce the food for the tree. And if you cut a lot off, the tree’s just going to naturally try and put that back as fast as possible.

Martin Peacock:

The best tree really is a tree which doesn’t need too much pruning, so you’ve selected the right tree for the space. It’s going to sort of achieve the sort of mature dimensions that it suits your garden and the space available. Certainly yeah, over pruning and trying to open up a tree too much to thin it to let light through and things, again isn’t necessarily great for the tree. It might be good to let more light into the garden, but again, that’s sort of a sensitive prune and a sensitive approach which doesn’t take out too much material is probably the best rule of thumb to go by.

Charlie Albone:

I mean, it’s the old adage of getting the right plant for the right spot, isn’t it? It’s important for trees, it’s important for hedges, it’s important to every plant right down to your lawn. You’ve got to get the right plant for your set of conditions, and then that minimizes the amount of maintenance you have to do on it. And that makes it look healthier and look more natural, and you inevitably get a better looking garden for it. So I mean, planning really is the key.

Martin Peacock:

Absolutely. Yeah, that –

Charlie Albone:

Sadly though, there is times… and I’m not scared to say that. I’m not afraid of taking out trees if you need to. I’ve seen a few methods used. Seen them take them down with cranes. I’ve seen the chop at the bottom and yelling “timber” as it sort of falls down. What’s the best way to remove a tree, if you have to? And at what point do you get professionals in? I guess when you starting to feel scared when it falls down. I guess it’s a bit like –

Martin Peacock:

Yeah. That’s right, yeah. Once it’s through the roof of the house, it’s a bit too late! Again, you’ve got to be familiar with your tools. I mean, certainly you shouldn’t really be thinking about buying a chainsaw or a power tool and just taking out a tree immediately. Having some experience of being able to just cut the logs on the ground sort of is going to be a good idea. I mean, there’s obviously lots of YouTube tutorials out there on how to fell a tree. I mean, the internet’s fantastic for just being able to watch a video to see how it’s done properly. Main thing is, is don’t be too confident of your skills and think that just by putting a rope or being able to push a tree means it’s necessarily going to go in the direction you want it to. So even with the small tree, if the crown is slightly asymmetrically weighted or there’s a slight trunk lean or it’s even just a breezy day, I mean, you’ll often see people doing a fairly sort of messy job of a felling cut and then all of a sudden finding that the tree has sat back and trapped the chainsaw, and it’s just, it’s become some sort of garden ornament then until you actually get a professional to come round and free it all up.

Martin Peacock:

Watch a few videos, I would say. If you practice on something small, be very familiar with your tools, always a good idea. Even if you think a tree’s going to go in the direction you want it to, if you’re felling a small tree in your garden that you feel quite comfortable about tackling and you’ve got all the safety gear on, always put a rope on it anyway. It can’t do any harm. It’s just another level of insurance to try and make sure that it falls over in the right direction. And even a small tree that’s only a few meters tall, I mean, as I say, if it goes and sits back towards you, you don’t want to be doing yourself an injury pushing at the thing sort of trying to get it to go the way you want it to, or finding that it’s sort of trapped yourself.

Charlie Albone:

Yeah. So, I’ve got a bit of a personal question now for some plants and trees in my own garden. I’ve got evergreen alders that go down the driveway. Now, I know they’re relatively short-lived. I would assume they’re probably 25, 30 years old at the moment, and they’re getting full of borer. Is there anything I can do to fix that? And do I have to start planning for their removal and replacement eventually?

Martin Peacock:

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there. I think looking at removal and replacement is definitely the go. I mean, yeah; once a tree has got borers in it, the tree, you can tell it’s, the tree is going to be stressed. Especially evergreen alders, they do tend to decay quite readily so inevitably I’m guessing that your trees have probably got lots of even pruning wounds which haven’t fully occluded over, have probably got now decay developing in them. Combine that with a lot of borer, it’s probably sort of time to sort of think about maybe removing some of the worst trees and creating a few new spaces where you could get some new interplanting between with a different species, or whether you remove one block of trees and then one end of your garden or your drive and then plant some new trees and do it that way.

Martin Peacock:

Well, you’ve got to remember, I suppose, if you’re removing trees within a group and then want to put some new trees in to fill the space, if it’s going to be too shady because of the existing trees it might affect the growth of the new trees. So, you’ve got to sort of consider that. You don’t want to be planting a new tree which will never do anything because it’s going to be suppressed by its sort of adjacent, larger neighbors.

Charlie Albone:

Yeah, sure. So, well, borer’s a nasty little thing that gets into the trunk of the tree and basically punches a hole into it and eats it from the inside out. Is there a concern that they will move into the new trees as well?

Martin Peacock:

It depends. It’s amazing how, within a row of trees of the same species, if one tree is more stressed than the others you tend to find that the insects can actually sort of tell that and they’ll tend to home in on the weaker tree. Trees naturally try and fend off pests and pathogens, but got lots of specialised chemicals in there internally that they can use in sap and various different compounds, which they can try and plug up borer holes with. Eucalypts are a good one. Most people would be familiar with the red kind or sap that a lot of eucalypts will produce. Once you’ve got the borers in, yes, they may spread to other trees. I mean, we were just talking about the evergreen alder, which do seem to be fairly prone to that. The best thing really is just to try and maintain tree health, and if you’ve got a tree which is really badly affected by a pest or a disease then it might be good idea to remove that because it, yes, as you say, it could be a source of infection or infestation for some of the trees in the garden.

Charlie Albone:

I’ll finish up with one last question. When you’ve got a nice, healthy tree and it just is slightly in the wrong spot, and perhaps you’re doing a development or something like that and you want to move it, how difficult is it to transplant a tree?

Martin Peacock:

Well, it depends very much on the species of the tree. Some species, things like banksias and things, really don’t like to be moved. Even if it was small, it probably won’t necessarily survive the move. Other trees, say for example like a magnolia or something, then yes, you’d probably have a much better chance. The only problem with transplanting established, large shrubs and small trees is that you’ve just got to get such an enormous amount of root volume. And if you don’t, you might find that the tree, the stress that the tree is placed under by transplanting, it may take years for the tree to fully recover, and sometimes trees never do. Sometimes, they’ve just taken such a knock to their health and vigor from the transplanting process that they’re never going to be as good quality as they were originally.

Martin Peacock:

And the other thing, we were just talking about pests and diseases there. If a tree’s been very stressed by being transplanted then it’s going to be a much more susceptible to pests and diseases. So, sometimes it might be worth just considering, if a tree really isn’t in the right spot. Obviously, you’ve always got to check whether or not a tree may be covered by council tree management policy to find out whether there are rules and regulations that might affect whether you can actually remove a tree. But after checking that out on council’s website or seeking some professional advice, then yeah; if you can sometimes just remove a tree and put a new tree in. Or even better, plant the new tree and then look at long-term removing the other tree down the track.

Charlie Albone:

Yeah. It’s a cost analysis game, isn’t it, I guess? The cost of… I mean, to do it properly, if it’s a decent-sized tree you might have to bring a crane in to lift it, to get a decent root ball on it and move it. And if it fails, then all of that cost, it might just be cheaper to fell the tree and put in an advanced, container-grown tree.

Martin Peacock:

Yeah. Certainly, an advanced-sized tree is going to establish far quicker and it’s likely to be a much healthier tree and give you a much better result in the long-term; yes, definitely.

Charlie Albone:

Yeah. Martin, I could talk to you about trees all day long but I think we’re out of time, so I want to say thank you for your time and your knowledge. It’s been awesome. Thanks, mate.

Martin Peacock:

All right. Cheers, Charlie. Thank you.

Charlie Albone:

So, now it is time for some community questions. And our first question comes from Lucy in Sydney. She’s asking, “Hi Charlie. I’ve moved to a new home and we have a large gum tree growing close to the house. Now, I’m concerned the roots will affect the foundations and damage the house. Should I be worried?”
Well, this really depends on how big the gum tree is and how old your house is. I doubt heavily that the gum tree is going to lift up your house, but if you are concerned I would get an arborist in to look at the tree. And you could also get a structural engineer in to have a look at the foundations of your house. The biggest problems that you’ll find is when the weather changes drastically. So, when the soil dries out a lot or if it gets really wet it could swell, and that’s when you’re going to see problems. Also, after a storm, like Martin suggested, head outside, take a look at the canopy of the tree. Check that it’s healthy, and like I said, if you’re worried get in an arborist.

Charlie Albone:

Darren from Blacktown asks, “Pruning fruit trees is a little bit daunting. Can you tell me how to do it properly?” Well, pruning fruit trees can be a little bit daunting if you don’t do your research, so just check what you’re growing and find out the best way to prune it. One rule of thumb I always follow though, or always look for, is find out where the fruit is produced. Is it on new wood or old wood? Because you don’t want to be pruning that out. For example, a pomegranate; you don’t want to be taking out all the old wood because you’re going to be taking out few, fruit, fruiture few… future fruit. Can you say that? Future fruit. Yeah. You’ll be taking out future fruit, so don’t do that. If you have any other issues with fruit trees, head to the STIHL blog and you can find a comprehensive list of fruit trees and how to prune them.

Charlie Albone:

We’ve got an email from Betty from Cabramatta and she says she noticed I use a lot of tall trees as hedges. Can any tree be a hedge? Now, this comes down to the right plant for the right spot. If you do need a tall hedge, you’re going to be looking at a tall tree. I like to use the Waterhousea or lilly pilly quite a lot because it’s fast growing. The foliage stays dense to the ground and it responds really well to pruning. The more you sort of prune off that foliage, the denser it becomes and you get a lovely, thick hedge. You don’t want to be using things like eucalypts that don’t get covered in as much foliage because they’re just not going to give you a thick screen. If you want something that is a medium-sized hedge, you might want to try a medium-sized tree, something like a Viburnum odoratissimum will do the job perfectly. And if you’re going for small hedges, don’t put the tree under stress. Go for a smaller shrub, something like a boxwood is perfect.

Charlie Albone:

Finally, Simon from Budgewoi is asking, “What is the best way to establish a new tree?” Now, this all comes down to picking a really healthy tree out at the nursery, making sure it doesn’t have any bark inclusions, making sure there’s no rubbing branches, and then do lots and lots of really good soil preparation. You want to rip the ground so it’s nice and free draining, and you want to add in lots of compost. If you can get your hand on some mycorrhizae fungi, then your tree is going to be laughing. That is the thing that will attach itself to the plant’s roots and it will grow out and it will increase the root run of the plant, and you’re going to get a really lovely, healthy tree for as long as you can remember. Do you have any gardening questions you’d like me to answer? Well, send me an email at charlie@stihl.com.au.

Charlie Albone:

It was fantastic to speak to my old study buddy, Martin Peacock. Thanks again for giving us your time, Martin, but what did we learn today? Well, we learned to plan the time of year to prune your trees, particularly your fruit and citrus. If in doubt, please call an expert arborist. Always safety first. If you feel at all concerned about pruning a tree, get an expert in. They can give you advice and they might be able to give you the confidence to do it yourself, or you can get them to do it for you. And finally, pick the right tree for the right spot and keep an eye out for any issues that might become problematic later in life.

Charlie Albone:

Thanks for listening to That’s How We Grow, in partnership with STIHL garden power tools. Need the tools to take on any gardening challenge? Go to the STIHL website or head to your local STIHL dealer today. You can follow STIHL on Instagram: @stihl_au, and follow me on Instagram as well: @charlie_albone. On our next episode, we’ll speak with Jimmy Turner, the CEO of Roma Street Park in the heart of Brisbane. Jimmy is a Texan and an all-round plant geek. He has an incredible plant knowledge and I can’t wait to discuss with him plants and lawn care for higher temperatures. And don’t forget to check out STIHL’s blog with plenty of great gardening advice, tips and tricks. I’m Charlie Albone, and thanks for listening. Until next time, goodbye.

Listen to the audio recording of this podcast here.