# Question about Austrian Pine Trimming



## arborpros (Jun 21, 2011)

I have a large commercial client that has a large amount of land with a street running through the middle of the property. The street is very busy with semi-truck traffic and is lined with Austrian Pines along with various other trees. The client would like the trees trimmed back off of the street in order for the trucks to have more room. I'm not worried about trimming the various London Plain Trees, Locusts, Bradfords, Crab Apples ect. but I am concerned on how to trim back the Austrian Pines. I raised them last year and they are raised to a point that raising them more would make them look weird. A sort of topping cut would be the best but I do not and will not top trees so what are my options? Can I trim the limbs back to a decent sized (1/3 the size of the limb) branch off of the main leader? The Austrians are about 30 years old and probably don't have too much time left before they start to decline from old age so I do not want to harm them any more then I have to.

My point is that the limbs grow from the stump about every 18" in a circular pattern around the stump. The limbs growing off the stump have the same type of growth pattern but in a smaller scale. Can I trim the tips of the limbs back to these twigs growing in a circular patter around the limb w/o doing damage? Thanks in advance.


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## beastmaster (Jun 21, 2011)

Are you talking about "Pinus nigra"? They can live for 500 years(I looked it up) I've never worked in one before, but a bad mistake lots of people seem to make on all conifers is taking them to thin and or lion-tailing them.
They will grow slower and need less trimming if you leave them a little full.
Commercial costumers always want them "cut back more". Granted if their interfering with traffic you need to do something, but the 
more you cut the uglier they get. 
A few picture would sure help out here. Beastmaster


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## John Paul Sanborn (Jun 21, 2011)

Most pines do not bud from new wood, you need to leave enough to support further growth. Spiral pruning may help, but reduction to branches with buds is the only way to make them look good over the long term.

Up here they have a hole slew of insect and disease problems.


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## arborpros (Jun 21, 2011)

I am talking about Pinus Nigra. I heard from a certified arborist friend of mine that they start to decline after 35-40 years. I don't know for sure but I will definately take what you said in to consideration. Are their different kinds of Pinus Nigra? These trees are approx 30 years old and have a 20-24" diameter at the ground. Maybe 30-35' tall. There are about 300 of them on this property and they are slowly starting to die out, whether it be from the weather or salting the roads or something else, and it is a yearly gold mine for my company. I will have some pictures posted tomorrow. Thanks for the replies so far. I'm starting this job on Friday and I am doing about a 50 yard section of the street and if the customer likes what he sees, they are going to do the whole street which is about 1 mile long and both sides of the street are overgrown. 
There will need to be approx 4-5 feet trimmed back from the side facing the street and I am not about to top the branches. This client trusts me and i plan on doing work for them for many years to come so I want to do it correctly.

Thanks again.

John


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## arborpros (Jun 21, 2011)

John Paul Sanborn said:


> Up here they have a hole slew of insect and disease problems.


 
What should I be looking for as far as tell tale signs of desease and/or insect damage. There are a couple of these trees that are looking like they are in decline and 7 I'm taking out because they are dead. Of the ones that are dead, 6 of them are paired up, like one got sick and it spread to the other. Thanks. John


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## BC WetCoast (Jun 21, 2011)

Around here, Austrian pines are the landscape architects delight for new townhouse or apartment complexes. We have taken out many that were planted in that thin layer of soil on top of the underground parking garage and now the weight of the tree is beginning to cause cracks in the parking garage ceiling concrete allowing it to leak.

They are very hardy, in that they can tolerate lousy soils, road salt and at least around here don't get many insect or disease problems. However, they do, IMHO, look like ####.

For traffic considerations, I tend to raise them, the whole whorl not just the road side, high enough to allow trucks to pass without hitting them. I tend to plan for the garbage trucks rather than transporters. Also on a busy road, I will raise them to give the traffic a less impeded field of view and to, where possible, avoid hiding places where kids/dogs/deer can run unexpectedly out into traffic.

I have also tipped back Austrian pines, usually to a branch whorl, without noticable impact to the tree. As well as thinned the tree by 30%. 

As they get older, the tops, like Scot pines, round over, so they are naturally height limited. From what I've seen, topping them doesn't produce as drastic an effect as it does with other conifers such as fir, spruce or hemlock.


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## treeslayer (Jun 22, 2011)

give them a Diplodia injection......:hmm3grin2orange:


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## M.D. Vaden (Jun 22, 2011)

Would almost have to be there to see them and do some demo cuts.

But I tend to prune those where space is needed, but shortening limbs or stems back to other branches lower down.

It height is a concern, like blocking a sign, I have no hesitation to prune the top leader off at a whorl as long as the cut is not over 2" to 3" diameter, on say, a 30 foot tall tree.

I don't go cutting off everything on top. But if constraint is the goal, some kind of cuts like that would almost have to be made.


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## Treepedo (Jun 22, 2011)

Not much luck pruning past three seasons of growth.
Personally I would prune back to source the limbs extending or perpendicular to the road and then prune laterals to sweep with the traffic. This looks much better than the stubby terminal pruning.
Removal of tip blight is very important, if you have a tree seriously infected remove it.
I have cared for many and seems the key is good root zone, moderate fert, and watering plus removal of infected parts(winter is probabley the best time for this).:msp_smile:


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