Your Pruning Body – Reaching Through Your Trunk
24 Sep

- Image via Wikipedia
I love pruning. Not sure why, but I think it’s because pruning is a bit like an art form with a very somatic, organic aspect to it. I love to feel the tool come down on and slice the wood.
Pruning Your Plants Requires Multi-Tasking
Pruning is a job that requires multi-taksing. You have to assess your entire plant, know why you’re pruning, consider the growth rate and mature height and width of the plant, and know what conditions indicate you shouldn’t prune, just to name the most basic points.
And then there’s the physical aspect of pruning. I’ll admit, I’m writing this during the worse season to prune (I started in the summer and am just now finishing it in September). I was motivated to write about pruning because of the fond memory I have from early spring (best time to prune). I learned that if you prune during late summer and early fall, you may stimulate shoot growth that won’t harden off in time for winter. And it’s also the time when a lot of insects are out and diseases are active.
But this is a blog about your gardening body. Regarding pruning, I’ve come across a some things gardeners need in order to manage their workload without damaging (or further damaging) their body. I’ll cover reaching today and arthritic thumbs tomorrow (or soon!). Eventually, I’ll review specific models.
Gardening Tools That Extend Your Reach
Many people have evolved their bodies in such a way that their trunk is not involved when they reach. They are stiff, and their core body doesn’t move. The movement stops with the arm. There are movement therapy exercises for this and there are tools for this. I’ve tried a few of the tools (and many, many of the exercises). To be honest none of the reach extender tools were all that great. But this is a matter of opinion. Fiskars is a great company and makes a few models of gardening tools that reach. As I remember one was heavier than the other. Although easy to lift, the lighter one was difficult to manipulate and maneuver. And I wonder how a person with pain, weakness or other disability would be able to sustain the lifting of a heavier long handle pruner.
The moral of the story is that just because a manufacturer says their product is ergonomic, doesn’t mean it is.
Source:
Jull, L. Pruning and Training Small Trees and Shrubs. UW-Madison, Dept Horticulture. http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/milwaukee/mg/documents/WoodiesPruning.pdf




