Mechanical injury and occlusion: An urban, tropical perspective

Eight common tree species used for urban landscaping were examined in this study for the effect of branch pruning on the rate and extent of wound closure (occlusion) and internal discolouration in the stem. Rate of wound closure when branches were removed with stem or branch of origin (flush cut pruning) and cuts made away from the branch collar (natural target pruning) were compared on all species over a 3-year period. Understanding the effects of pruning will benefit urban foresters in tree selection and potentially prevent downstream challenges associated with mechanical injury. The findings for all eight species supported the recommended guidelines of retaining the branch collar during pruning which has shown to facilitate effective wound closure. The exposed wood diameter (exposed) for all species were significantly reduced after the second growing season for injuries derived through natural target pruning but for the same period, injuries derived through flush cut pruning, only six species showed significant reductions in exposed wood diameter. Two other species (Mimusops elengi and Lagerstroemia speciosa) were observed to have no further reduction in exposed wood following the first growing season. Both wound inducing techniques (flush cut pruning and natural target pruning) resulted in no significant change in healing tissue production following the second growing season. Correlation analysis showed a strong positive relationship (r = 0.8–0.9) between the width of the wound and the length of discolouration in the stem, suggesting that smaller cuts were better suited to avoid extensive wound induced discolouration. This finding was further reinforced through visual observations of numerous pruning wounds of all eight species which showed that smaller cuts were better able to close over as opposed to larger wounds.