Arborists from around Northeast Ohio gathered at the Young Tree Training class at Barlow Community Center on March 17. The six-hour class was taught by Alan Siewart, Regional Urban Forester with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry.
The course taught students the proper ways to train young trees to grow into strong, long-living trees. Students received classroom training to identify key concepts such as branch bark ridge, branch tissue versus trunk tissue, target pruning, and proper pruning cuts. After classroom training in the morning, the arborists headed outside to watch a pruning demonstration and try out the techniques they learned. The class, a favorite of arborists and gardeners, is offered in February and March each year, the best time of the year to prune young trees.