If your tree is generally healthy and only needs a gentle trim, you can probably do the work yourself. This can be a reasonable way to save money in comparison to what it would cost to hire a tree care service. But you might be wondering how you can make sure your tree looks good after its trim. Here are some tips to help you achieve a good look with a DIY tree trim.

Sharpen your blades.

Your tree will look a lot nicer if all of your cuts are smooth and complete. The best way to ensure this is by sharpening the blades on your shears and trimmers. Many hardware stores offer blade sharpening services. There are also dedicated knife sharpening shops, and most of them will sharpen shears if asked. Sharp blades ensure you can cut through a branch with one, swift movement rather than having to saw back and forth.

Only leave a little nub of growth behind.

You don't want to just trim the ends of branches off. Tree branches grow from their ends, so removing the tips is not healthy for the branches and may cause them to weaken and die back. Weak branches with brown leaves are certainly not pretty. So, you'll get better results if you remove entire branches, leaving behind just a small nub of wood near the trunk or base of the branch.

Try to maintain symmetry.

You don't want the tree to look lopsided with more branches on one side than the other. So, try to keep your trimming efforts even. If you remove a branch from one side, remove another branch from the other side. Every now and then, step back and look at the tree from a few feet away. If one side is looking heavier than the other, focus on removing more branches from the side that's looking heavier.

Remove ugly branches first.

When deciding which branches to remove, always remove the ugliest ones first. If a branch is brown, bent, oddly shaped, or broken, remove that branch before you remove any better-looking branches. This way, most of the branches left behind will be good-looking ones, and your overall tree will be good-looking, too.

If you plan on trimming your own tree, follow the tips above. Doing so will help ensure your tree looks better when the work is finished. With a little practice, you'll be able to make trees look awesome more consistently. 

For more information, contact a tree trimming service near you.