research, whats it all about: Pruning spruce trees.

If any readers have tried to walk through a young spruce plantation before the first thinning you'll know what I'm writing about. I planted 12 acres of trees 15 years ago. Before planting we put horses on the land to graze it bare, the reason for this was so that the guy digging the drains and mounding the spoil could see the lines of mounds easily and make neat straight lines of trees which were planted on the mounds.

There is a shallow drain every 12m with 6 mounds between the drains, which gives me a row of trees every 2m, but along the rows they can be as close as 1.7m apart. There are at least 2,500 trees per ha, it's basically impenetrable to humans right now. Eventually through periodic thinning the final crop of trees will be just 400 per ha. The first thinning will remove 1 row in 7 to allow access.

I'm trying to make a path perpendicular to the 1 in 7 rows before they get taken out. I use a secateurs and a pruning saw to cut the dead branches off the line of trees from ground level to about 2m high. When I started I didn't really know what I was doing, I was kneeling on the ground to cut the bottom branches off first, then alternatively using the secateurs and saw I would work my way up the tree, using the saw for the thicker branches. I was getting about 5 trees done per hour!

Now I think I've mastered it, here's how I do it.

I put my hood up
I push my way in past the branches, secateurs in my right hand
I prune a few light branches approx. 1,2-1.4m above the ground
Now that I have a bit of space I swap the saw for the secateurs
I'm right handed so I saw with my right and hold branches with my left
The path I've already cut is behind me with the branches I've cut to my left
I start cutting branches on the left hand side of the tree, working my way down the tree holding the cut branches and the branch I'm cutting in my left hand. This ensures a clean cut
I cut about a quarter of the branches in a line down the left side of the tree, I dump the cut branches to my left
I take a step forward, working clockwise around the tree I cut another line down the tree, this time starting at head height now that I have room to work.
I work my way round the tree, dumping cut branches away from what will be my path.
On the larger trees, if the branches are dead I cut them off above my head as far as I can reach.
I put the saw in the scabbard and trim small branches with the secateurs, at this stage all the raindrops and loose needles have fallen off so I drop the hood to help me cool off as I tidy the light branches
Then it's on to the next tree, secateurs in hand, hood up.

If I come across a wolf (forked) tree I skip pruning it, perhaps just cutting the side branches off it in the pathway or instead prune the tree to the right instead. I can now prune a tree to 2m in approx 2 and a half minutes.
Some of the 15 year old Sitka spruce are 20cm at dbh, the Norway spruce are a bit smaller at 15cm dbh for the best of them. By giving myself access I am able to select the better trees for high pruning to 2.7m this should help give me higher quality, knot free sawlogs in the final 400 trees per ha.

Just behind the pruned tree is a drain from which the soil for the mounds was taken before planting.

First few branches cut off from 1.2m to ground level.

About 1/4 of the branches that I'll be taking off are removed at this stage. Now that I have some space I can work up to about 2m.

Just a few left, cut branches are on left, pathway on right.

I cut just outside the branch collar so that the bark will quickly grow over the wound.

Finally I tidy up with a secateurs, taking care to keep the blade next to the tree. This means that the part of the branch bruised by the anvil part of the secateurs is removed, again helping the bark to heal quicker.