There’s several types of pruning.  Canopy raise , building clearance, canopy thinning and the most is crown cleaning. Crown clean is the removal dead , broken, crossing and  weakly attached limbs . Sometimes trees develop very large and horizontal growing limbs that require some weight reduction to mitigate limb failure during high winds , rain and snow.In order to properly prune a tree it is important to understand the growth and habit of all the different growth patterns. Not all trees grow the same and every cut made to a live branch could dictate future growth.

The best time of year to prune is when the trees are dormant so that in the spring the tree puts its energy into closing up their wounds (compartmentalization). It’s ok to remove dead branches any time year . We take a species specific approach to pruning and every live branch is justified prior to removing.