- 1). Trim your cottonwood tree in the early spring before any new green growth occurs. Use lopping shears for branches up to 1 1/2 inches in diameter and a hand saw for branches between 1 and 4 inches in diameter. Use a pole saw for higher branches.
- 2). Remove any dead, diseased, cracked or failing limbs or branches to reduce the threat of them breaking away and falling from the tree. Cut back to a point of stable, healthy wood where the branch meets the parent branch, or to the spot where the limb meets the trunk, just outside the slightly swollen branch collar.
- 3). Trim the terminal branch tips of the canopy to reduce the size and spread or to reduce seed and cotton dispersal. Remove up to, but no more than, 20 percent of living healthy tissue each year. Place all cuts following the natural line of the tree canopy, to preserve its shape and have a professional-looking result. If you alter the size of the canopy, be sure to trim the entire canopy, not just the lower portion, as this will distort the tree shape and growth pattern.
- 4). Thin the branches of the upper and outer canopy, if desired, by removing the smaller limbs that are 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches in diameter, to create an even more lacy and open branch architecture. Prune back to the parent branch with a flush cut and collect all of the loose branches from the canopy, so they don't decay in place.
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