The practise of natural target pruning uses the branch collar to identify the correct place for a branch to be removed. In order to preserve the barque tissue and the branch collar, there is a three-cut process that must be used to eliminate branches.
The first cut is an undercut made upwards from the bottom of the branch, about 25 to 50 mm further out than the collar, about 1/4 through the branch.
The second cut below is a downward cut just outside the undercut that actually removes the whole branch, eliminating the branch’s weight before the final natural target cut is made.
The natural target cut is the third cut. With a cut made just outside the branch collar tissue, the remaining portion of the stub is removed.
Why Prune Targets
At the moment professional state that there are two final cuts that must be avoided. These cuts are called the stub cut and the flush cut.
Stub cuts (a large food source for parasitic decay fungi, which can then break down natural barriers to the trees’ defence. In addition, the presence of the ‘stub’ prevents the wound from closing completely through the callus.
‘Flush cuts’ (lead to the removal of the site where the tree’s natural defence barrier would normally form and therefore expose the trunk itself to the risk of decay.