Pruning Western Cedar (Ashe Juniper)?

[xtm]

I have several dozen female Ashe Junipers on my place that have grown to 15'-20' - well beyond the shrub size. I'd like to prune off the larger lower branches so they can begin to take on the "tree" form. I live in north central Texas...so is this now (March) the proper time to prune these trees (Juniperus ashei buchholz) for the least amount of plant stress?

This time of the year, they are usually heavily-laden with their blue cedar berries and I've noticed that the migrating waxwings prefer to safely feed from the upper branches.

 

[Raintree]

Yes OK to prune now. It is important not to make any large leader/trunk cuts. To elevate the crown prune small downward growing limbs around the drip edge. For a slow growing Juniper I would not take any more than 20% out in one pruning. If the tree in the pic is 20ft I would feel comfortable raising the outside edge to 5ft for mowing clearance.

 

[xtm]

Thanks for the reply!

"To elevate the crown prune small downward growing limbs around the drip edge. For a slow growing Juniper I would not take any more than 20% out in one pruning."

Just to clarify.....it's OK to prune these lower downward-growing limbs all the way back to the main trunk..? All of my junipers still have a main trunk - like a Christmas tree. None are old enough to have taken on the form of the tree in your photo.

 

[Raintree]

Yes, if it's a single stem Juniper then lower trunk cuts would be necessary to elevate. When pruning out live limbs keep in mind you are wounding the tree, less is better & proper collar cuts required.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Prune away, xtm, it's not like ya can kill the damn things! Just kidding, I actually like having a few cedars on the place. You can prune cedars around here pretty much all year. Whereabouts are you?

 

[xtm]

Prune away, xtm, it's not like ya can kill the damn things! Just kidding, I actually like having a few cedars on the place. You can prune cedars around here pretty much all year. Whereabouts are you?

I like a few around, too. I've maintained a long border of female volunteers with the blue berries as a visual and sound barrier between my place and the Bible college over the fence. Someone over there likes to drag-race in their parking lot at night - (scholars? or professors?). The severe drought and extraordinary summer heat over the past few years has killed off a goodly number of cedar trees in the area - and I want to be sure to apply minimum stress to mine so as to lot lose any. That's why I've asked about time of year. As it turned out, most of the lower limbs that were pruned were quite long, but <1" in diameter - no large trunk cuts.

I'm pretty much done with all the pruning I'm gonna do this year. Gad! what a nasty job - and now there's a mountain of limbs to chip! The plan is to do about the same amount of pruning next year.

I'm north of Fort Worth in the Lake Grapevine area.

Thank you both for the advice!