N/A
Formative Pruning
Often formative pruning will have been started in the nursery in order to influence the overall structure, shape and size of a tree crown in maturity. If it can be established that such pruning has taken place, then further pruning during or immediately after pruning should be kept to an absolute minimum in order to preserve adequate leaf area. Normally a period of 3 to 5 years should elapse before further formative pruning takes place. Occasionally if an unsuitable branch structure has developed, some branches may be removed or shortened. The premature removal of all the lower most branches should be avoided where possible as this can result in the impairment in the trees development.