In my soon-to-be written thriller, “Lost Pruners of the North County, An Illustrated Guide,” I go into painful detail of how painful gardening pain really can be without the right tool. The right tool is … (queue the trumpets) … the pruner!!
If you have a rose bush, shrub, hedge or a small tree, you will eventually need to remove dead or injured branches and manicure it to enhance its health and attractiveness. You can do this with a pruner (one-handed tool), lopper (requires two hands), handsaw (one hand) or a friend (no hands).
Pruning Shears, aka clippers, hand pruners, hand shears, by pruners and the more sophisticated, French sounding secateurs, are either scissors type or anvil type. There are several types of pruning shears.
By pruners are heavy-duty garden scissors with two curved blades “ing by” each other to make the cut. They make clean cuts on live branches and stems that are up to one-half inch thick. If you can, invest in a high-quality one. Great for pruning roses, raspberries or snipping flowers and herbs. Not great for dry or dead branches because they can jam and bend the blades.
Anvil pruners have one sharp cutting blade that closes down on a flat anvil-type edge. Anvil pruners are used to cut dead branches and woody stems up to one-half inch. Anvil pruners will never give you as precise a cut as by pruners.
Ratchet pruners are anvil pruners with a mechanism that performs the cutting action in stages. As you cut through a branch, the ratcheting mechanism clicks and moves to the next setting, providing increasing pressure as you cut. Ergonomically designed (squiggly handles) models reduce wrist strain and help if you have arthritis or carpal tunnel. They can cut limbs up to three-quarters of an inch.
Parrot beak pruners are similar to by pruners with the main difference being they have concave shaped blades. They are used for narrow stems, making fast, quick clean cuts.
Needle nose hand shears are designed for picking fruit, cutting buds, gathering vegetables and picking flowers.
Thinning shears are small scissors-like pruners to cut small plants and shaping plants such as Bonsai trees.
The lopper family has two kids:
By loppers have two blades similar to scissors. The 30-to-36-inch-long long handles provide good leverage, so you can easily cut one-inch branches and stems. A by lopper cuts live wood cleanly, but is not ideal for cutting dry and dead branches because it will cause the blade to bend and jam. Use a by lopper when you want to trim back an overgrown shrub or small tree.
Anvil loppers come with one straight blade and can cut dead branches and shoots up to 1 ¾ inches. These are not good for live branches, because the anvil crushes soft stems.
Pruning saws are necessary to cut branches that are over 1 ¾ inches in diameter. Saws come in a range of sizes and have a straight or curved blade with teeth that are fine or coarse.
Exhaustive studies conducted by the world’s leading universities have concluded that a large cut branch will inevitably fall on your head 96.4 percent of the time. Their astonishing conclusion: headaches hurt. Be careful.
Hedge shears, also called hedge trimmers or hedge clippers, are good for trimming ornamental grasses or shaping hedges such as boxwoods. The scissor-like blades make long and straight cuts through several small branches at the same time.
Pole pruners are also known as tree pruners, aerial pruners and extension pruners. They are made of blades attached to hooks. These hooks are mounted on long poles with a cord to control the blade. Pole pruners trim branches that are up to 1 ¼ inches in diameter and provide a reach of about 8 feet. Pole pruners are manual, gasoline or electric.
Keep the blades of your pruning tools clean because plant diseases stick to them and may spread to other plants. Wipe the blades with a rag before moving on to the next plant. If the plant has a disease, clean the blades with alcohol or bleach (mixed in a bucket of water in a 1:10 ratio) before cutting the next plant. Keep the blades sharp by using a sharpening file. Oil your tools to prevent rusting and proper open and closing. I use WD-40, but any silicone-based lubricant will work.
In summary, a pruner, lopper, saw and your favorite beverage will get you through your pruning chores.
Schmidt is a Poway resident with over 40 years of gardening experience.
