The technique of pruning French sycamore in winter

French sycamore, commonly known as Fatong, deciduous trees, up to 30 meters high, is a famous courtyard tree and street tree species, cultivated in all parts of our country, generally used as street trees.

Winter pruning has an important effect on the growth and tree shape of Fatong, if it is not cut in time and reasonably, it will lead to disorganized tree shape, long main branches, few leaves or low clusters, which will greatly reduce its ornamental value and shading effect. Timely and reasonable pruning can make the tree majestic, straight and graceful, dense branches, many and symmetrical lateral branches, thick green leaves and enhanced natural immunity of the tree.

The winter shaping and pruning of paulownia trees can be carried out before the fall of leaves, soil freezing, dormancy and sap flow in the following spring. For newly planted young trees, when the stem is 2.5 to 3 meters high, it is called "fixed stem". Pruning can first cut upright branches, drooping branches, then disease and insect branches, cross branches, thin and weak branches, introverted branches and branches that affect traffic facilities, and finally leave 3 or 4 strong main branches on the basis of looking at the whole tree and determining the training direction in the future. The remaining main branches should be conducive to future plastic surgery, strong growth and moderate opening angle. After selecting the main branch, cut it short near the base of 30 to 40 centimeters, the section should be smooth, do not hurt the bark, and apply a protective agent at the cut to avoid disease and insect damage and water transpiration. Smoothing the wound can also promote the formation of callus, facilitate wound healing and prevent bacterial infection. Protective agents can be applied with wax, white coating, tung oil or paint.

Young trees are cut off every 3 to 4 years in winter. Generally, the 3-4 main branches retained for the first time can be basically unchanged, and then 1-2 strong twigs can be retained on each main branch, with a length of 20 to 30 cm in short cut. The side branches on the twigs can be taken according to the specific conditions, for example, when the communication line next to the tree is not high, it is also possible to retain only 3 to 4 short main branches left at the first fixed trunk, which can reduce the height of the whole tree and increase the transmittance of the branch leaves at the same time, which not only does not affect its growth, but also maintains the tree shape well.

For the formed Fatong, it should also be comprehensively trimmed every winter. Pay attention to cultivate the advantage of the main branch, cut off the disease and insect branches, erect branches, overlapping branches, overdense clump branches and lateral branches. Retract the overly long main branch and stimulate the base of the main and lateral branches to produce branches and leaves to prevent baldness and ensure a thicker leaf curtain layer.

Fatong has strong sprouting and is resistant to pruning. If the pruning is reasonable, the beautiful shape of the tree can be maintained. If the pruning is unreasonable, it can also be made up in time in the next pruning to achieve its due tree effect.