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Ancient and Famous Garden Tree Pruning and Protection Technology: Safety Maintenance and Vitality RejuvenationAncient and famous garden trees are precious natural and cultural heritage, carrying ecological value, historical connotation, and ornamental significance. Due to their long growth cycle, ancient and famous trees often face problems such as weakened vitality, aging branches, structural instability, and susceptibility to diseases and pests. Pruning, as a core maintenance measure, plays a crucial role in ensuring the safety of ancient and famous trees, rejuvenating their vitality, and extending their service life. Unlike ordinary garden tree pruning, ancient and famous tree pruning must adhere to the principles of “minimum intervention, safety first, and vitality protection”, combining arboriculture, plant physiology, and cultural heritage protection. This article elaborates on the core principles and technical norms of ancient and famous tree pruning, analyzes safety maintenance points and vitality rejuvenation measures, discusses common risks and prevention strategies, and provides professional technical guidance for garden maintenance personnel, cultural relic protection workers, and relevant practitioners. The pruning of ancient and famous trees must follow strict core principles to avoid damaging their inherent growth state and cultural value. The principle of minimum intervention requires that pruning operations only target dangerous branches, diseased and insect-infested branches, and dead branches, minimizing the removal of healthy branches. For branches that do not pose safety hazards and are important for maintaining the tree’s natural shape, even if they are slightly irregular, they should be retained as much as possible to preserve the tree’s historical appearance. The principle of safety first focuses on eliminating potential safety hazards—pruning dead branches, broken branches, weak branches, and overhanging branches that are prone to falling, especially those near tourist routes, buildings, and power lines, to ensure the safety of people and property. The principle of vitality protection requires fully considering the weak growth ability of ancient and famous trees, avoiding heavy pruning that consumes excessive nutrients, and adopting light pruning and directional trimming to promote the sprouting of new shoots and maintain the tree’s photosynthetic capacity. In addition, the principle of cultural heritage protection must be followed—for ancient and famous trees with historical and cultural significance, pruning must not change their unique shape and historical traces, and special plans must be formulated and approved by relevant departments before operation. Pre-pruning investigation and evaluation are essential links for ancient and famous tree pruning, laying the foundation for formulating scientific pruning plans. The investigation content includes the tree’s growth status, age, species, crown structure, branch health, and surrounding environment. First, determine the tree’s growth vitality through indicators such as leaf color, sprouting ability, and root system status—for trees with extremely weak vitality, pruning should be minimized, and priority should be given to vitality recovery measures such as fertilization and irrigation. Second, conduct a structural safety assessment of the crown, using tools such as aerial work platforms, drones, and telescopic observation mirrors to inspect high branches and dense parts, identifying dangerous branches (such as hollow branches, cracked branches, and wind-damaged branches) and determining their location, size, and hazard level. Third, investigate the surrounding environment, including the distance from the tree to buildings, power lines, and tourist facilities, and formulate targeted pruning measures to avoid affecting the surrounding environment during operation. Finally, based on the investigation results, formulate a detailed pruning plan, including pruning scope, intensity, methods, time, and post-maintenance measures, and organize experts to demonstrate and approve the plan to ensure its scientificity and safety. The key technical points of ancient and famous tree pruning include targeted handling of different types of branches and standardized operation procedures. For dangerous branches, the core is to remove them safely while minimizing damage to the tree. For thick dangerous branches with a diameter of more than 10cm, the three-cut method should be adopted: first, make a undercut 20-30cm away from the branch base to prevent bark tearing; then cut off the branch from the top of the undercut to reduce the weight of the remaining branch; finally, trim the remaining stub close to the branch collar to ensure a smooth cut. For hollow and decayed branches, only remove the decayed part, retain the healthy wood, and fill the hollow part with environmentally friendly materials (such as polyurethane foam, glass fiber reinforced plastic) to enhance structural stability. For diseased and insect-infested branches, cut them off 5-10cm below the diseased part, and burn them centrally to eliminate the source of pests and diseases, avoiding cross-infection. For dead branches, remove them completely from the base, and smooth the cut to facilitate wound healing. Vitality rejuvenation pruning is an important measure to extend the service life of ancient and famous trees, focusing on promoting the sprouting of new shoots and adjusting the growth balance. For aging trees with sparse crowns, moderate shortening pruning is adopted for the main branches and side branches—cut off the aging part of the branches to the position of robust buds, stimulating the sprouting of new shoots and rebuilding the crown. For trees with excessive vegetative growth and weak reproductive growth, thin out dense nutrient branches, retain medium and short fruiting branches, and adjust the ratio of vegetative branches to fruiting branches to balance growth. For trees with inclined trunks or unbalanced crowns, use directional pruning and support measures—trim branches on the inclined side to reduce weight, retain branches on the opposite side to enhance balance, and install support rods or cables to fix the trunk and main branches, preventing further inclination. It should be noted that the pruning intensity of ancient and famous trees should be strictly controlled, with the amount of pruned branches not exceeding 10% of the total branches in a single year, and pruning should be carried out in batches for 2-3 years to avoid sudden damage to the tree’s vitality. Post-pruning maintenance is crucial for the recovery of ancient and famous trees, including wound treatment, fertilization, irrigation, pest control, and monitoring. Wound treatment must be timely and standardized—for cuts with a diameter of more than 5cm, first disinfect the wound with 75% alcohol or 5% potassium permanganate solution, then apply special tree wound sealant (such as asphalt paint, polyurethane sealant) to prevent water loss and pathogen invasion. For large wounds, wrap them with breathable non-woven fabric to protect the wound and promote healing. Fertilization should focus on organic fertilizer to supplement nutrients gently—apply decomposed cow manure, sheep manure, or organic compound fertilizer around the root system (at a distance of 1.5-2 times the crown radius) to improve soil fertility and promote root system recovery. Irrigation should be moderate, keeping the soil moist but not waterlogged, and avoiding excessive irrigation that causes root rot. Pest control should adopt comprehensive measures such as physical control, biological control, and targeted chemical control—install insect traps to capture pests, release natural enemies to control pest populations, and spray low-toxicity pesticides when necessary to prevent wound infection and pest infestation. Common risks in ancient and famous tree pruning include tree death due to excessive pruning, wound infection leading to decay, structural damage during pruning, and damage to cultural value. To prevent these risks, the following measures should be taken: strengthen the professional training of operators, ensuring they master the growth characteristics of ancient and famous trees and standardized pruning methods; strictly implement the pruning plan, prohibiting arbitrary expansion of the pruning scope and intensity; use professional pruning tools and equipment, ensuring safe operation and avoiding mechanical damage to the tree; establish a dynamic monitoring mechanism after pruning, regularly inspecting the tree’s growth status, wound healing, and pest occurrence, and adjusting maintenance measures in time. In addition, for ancient and famous trees under national key protection, pruning operations must be carried out in accordance with the “Regulations on the Protection of Ancient and Famous Trees”, and relevant procedures must be completed to ensure legal compliance. The future development of ancient and famous tree pruning technology will tend to be more precise and intelligent, using technologies such as 3D scanning, drone inspection, and AI growth simulation to formulate personalized pruning plans, realizing the scientific protection of ancient and famous trees while inheriting their historical and cultural value. |
