Working on trees and bushes in your yard to create a beautiful setting is something we all like to do. Moreover, not only does taking care of the trees around your home make them look better, but you also need to prune trees for their own health as well. Many people will choose to use some kind of short-range tool in combination with a ladder.
However, ladders are pricey and operating any kind of tool or machinery on a ladder at great heights can be dangerous. There has to be a better tool for trimming tree branches at great heights, right? A great tool used for pruning and trimming high up tree branches is known as a pruning pole or a pole pruner. These are very useful tools when it comes to being an arborist or just working with trees in your own yard. Let’s take a look at these convenient tools right here and now.
What is a Pole Pruner and What is it Used For?
A pruning pole is a device that is used for pruning tree branches at heights. A pole pruner usually consists of a long pole which has a pruning system attached to the front. They are usually made of something like fiberglass, or some other kind of hollow and lightweight material that is easy to lift and maneuver.
These poles are usually either telescopic or come with multiple pieces so you can extend them to reach heights. Some pruning poles can reach up to 18 feet in height or even higher in some cases.
A pole pruner will then have some sort of pruning system located on the front of it, which usually consists of a chain-drive rope-operated blade system. When you pull on the rope, the blades snap shut and cut off the branches. Generally speaking, these pruning systems can cut branches up to 1.25 inches thick, or depending on the model, up to 12 inches.
Most of these pole pruners also come with a long serrated saw located on the front, which can be used to saw branches that are too large for the pruning system. The main point of a pole pruner is to be able to cut branches off trees at heights without having to step on a flimsy ladder and leave the comfort of the solid ground under your feet.
Benefits of Using a Pole Pruner
A pole pruner is definitely a very useful tool, one that helps make your life a whole lot easier and safer when it comes to working with trees, mainly in terms of pruning and trimming branches that are too high to reach on your own. So, what benefits come along with using a pole pruner?
Extended Reach
Perhaps the biggest benefit that you get from using a pole pruner is that they greatly help extend your reach. Instead of using a short-range tool while standing on a ladder, you can use a pole pruner while standing on the ground. You could even get on a small ladder and use it from there. Some pole pruners can extend out to 20 feet or more, thus providing you with unprecedented range to cut and trim high branches that you would not be able to reach otherwise.
Increased Safety
Another big benefit is that it is very safe when compared to other trimming methods. The fact of the matter is that using a saw or power tool to cut tree branches while standing on a ladder is just not very safe. Ladders can be flimsy, tipsy, and they need stable ground. Getting on a ladder to cut branches without somebody holding the ladder below you is not very safe.
A pole pruner eliminates the need to get up on a ladder with tools, thus being quite safe. You don’t have to worry about the ladder tipping over, or about losing your balance or tripping on the ladder, falling off it, and injuring yourself. This is one of those tools that can help make life a whole lot safer. Of course, this only goes so far, because these things have 20 foot poles, or less sometimes, so they can only reach so far.
Multi-Purpose Use and Power
Yet another benefit that you get with the pole pruner is that they usually have multiple uses or functions, well, 2 of them anyway. Your average pole pruner is going to come with a pruning system which consists of a closing blade and a rope to pull. This is ideal for cutting smaller branches with a quick pull of the rope.
Furthermore, your average pole pruner is also going to come with a long serrated blade, which is built to handle thicker and larger branches which the main pruning system cannot deal with. Going back to the pruning system, another advantage you get with it is that you don’t have to saw back and forth forever, and you don’t need to have a lot of muscle to use it. As long as the branch is not too thick, a simple tug on the rope should be more than enough to snap it.
Affordability
The last benefit we can think of here is that a pole pruner is a really affordable option. Instead of spending money on a ladder and various tree pruning tools, you can simply buy a single pole pruner. They tend to be fairly inexpensive. There are super expensive models meant for pros, but there are also a whole lot of highly affordable options too.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that a pole pruner is a very useful tool when it comes to trimming and pruning tree branches at heights, but you don’t want to have to deal with ladders.