Trees are both male and female, like most flowers and plants. They rely on insects like bees to help create seeds and seed pods. The pods drop to the ground, and take root. Some time later you end up with lots of little seedlings coming up through the ground. If you do not pull these up right away, you end up with a lot of trees you do not want. If this process is getting quite tedious for you, you can actually prevent tree reproduction. Here's how:
Mid- to Late Spring for Deciduous Trees
You have to wait for the trees to spring their leaves, then wait for the seed pods to erupt. Prune just the seed pods and/or the twigs that hold the seed pods. If this seems like even more work, think about all the seed pods you would have to rake up for weeks and the accidental seedlings you would constantly be yanking up. Taking a couple of hours to prune off all the seed pods you can reach is far less work than you would have to do for the rest of the year. If you want to get all of the seed pods above your head on a ladder, it may be wise to call a tree pruning service to help.
Late Fall to Early Winter for Evergreen Trees
Evergreens begin growing their cones in mid- to late fall. Somewhere between late fall and early winter, they will drop these cones on the ground to reproduce and grow more evergreens. Some evergreens only release the seeds from the open cones and the cones stay on the trees. Either way, you want to trim off all of the cones before they open and have a chance to drop seeds. Many birds and small animals eat these seeds, but you can place the cones in a bucket in a place where these animals can access the cones without accidentally seeding your yard with more evergreens.
Avoid Trimming the Twigs That Produce Leaves
Leaves are how trees gather sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce food for the trees. Avoid pruning too many of the leaf-producing twigs, or you will end up with a dead tree. If you end up with a dead tree, then you have to pay a tree service for tree removal, and that is much more time-consuming and costly than just pruning the pods and pod-producing twigs.
