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Larry Costello is an environmental horticulture advisor with the University of California. He conducts a research and education program in urban forestry and landscape horticulture.

Training young trees is a highly important arboricultural practice. Harris et al. (1999) state, "Training young trees provides the greatest benefit of any cultural practice in influencing the future structure, appearance, and maintenance costs of landscape trees." Unfortunately, many municipalities in the United States and elsewhere do not train young trees. Two reasons are often cited: lack of budget and lack of knowledge about training methods.

Benefits of Training

Three of the primary benefits of training young trees are

• Improved structural strength. Removing such defects as weak branch attachments and codominant stems means that trained trees are structurally stronger than untrained trees. Being structurally stronger, they have a lower failure potential, lower hazard potential, and lower liability risk.
• Reduced maintenance costs. Trained trees require less maintenance when they are mature. Typically, trained trees have fewer branches than untrained trees, which means less pruning. In addition, well-spaced branches provide easier access for arborists, and pruning can be accomplished in a shorter period of time. Finally, costs associated with structural defect correction, such as cabling, bracing, canopy thinning, and codominant stem removal, can be avoided.
• Increased tree longevity. Being structurally stronger, trained trees are likely to remain a part of the urban forest for a longer period of time than untrained trees. Trees that have sustained partial failure (such as limb or stem failure) often need to be removed because they are hazardous or unsightly. Simply by remaining intact longer, trained trees continue to serve as functional components of the urban forest for a longer time than untrained trees.

What’s the investment? It’s minimal—a relatively small amount of time and some basic equipment: hand pruners, loppers, pole pruner, handsaw, and ladder.

When considering the benefits relative to the costs, it is clear that we can’t afford not to train young trees (Figure 1).