The following information is designed to help you understand exactly what will be accomplished in a pruning operation. Making Cuts Branches should be removed with thinning cuts. A thinning cut either removes a branch at its point of origin or shortens it back to a lateral branch that is large enough to assume the terminal role. Branches should not be removed with heading or topping cuts. Heading should rarely be used in shade and ornamental tree pruning, since it forces the growth of multiple upright sprouts that are weakly attached to the parent stem.
Drastic heading can kill the tree outright.
A minimum or maximum diameter size of branches to be removed should be specified in all pruning operations. This establishes how much pruning is to be done. Pruning Objectives Pruning objectives should be established prior to beginning any pruning operation. A300 provides two basic objectives. Hazard Reduction Pruning Hazard reduction pruning is recommended when the primary objective is to reduce the danger to a specific target caused by visibly defined hazards in a tree.