StretchLearn Course
The cuts, tools, timing, and safety that keep trees and shrubs healthy and productive.
Course Overview
This course turns nervous guesswork into confident, biology-based pruning. You will master the three-cut limb removal, the difference between heading and thinning, a month-by-month timing calendar, fruit tree shaping systems, hedge renovation, and the overhead-work safety rules that keep you out of the ER. Every technique is grounded in how trees actually compartmentalize wounds.
Learning Outcomes
Identify the branch collar and branch bark ridge and place every cut to protect them
Select, clean, and sharpen bypass pruners, loppers, and a pruning saw to the correct angles
Distinguish heading from thinning cuts and choose the right one for each goal
Schedule pruning by species using a dormant-versus-summer decision framework
Shape young fruit trees using central-leader and open-center training systems
Apply overhead and ladder safety rules that meet ANSI A300 and Z133 practice
Curriculum Preview
Preview the course structure, see how the modules build on one another, and understand the path this program is designed to take you through.
Before touching a tool, understand why and where trees heal. This module covers plant anatomy, compartmentalization, and the core cut types that drive every decision later.
The right tool for each branch diameter, kept sharp and clean, makes every cut safer and faster. This module covers selection, the three-cut method, edge maintenance, and disease prevention.
When you prune matters as much as how. This module builds a dormant-versus-summer decision framework, a month-by-month calendar, and the special rules for spring bloomers and bleeders.
Apply everything to the highest-value and highest-risk jobs: shaping fruit trees, renovating hedges, treating wounds correctly, and staying safe on ladders and under overhead limbs.
Built for Application
This program is designed around progression: focused lessons, structured modules, applied resources, assessments, and a course rhythm that turns information into usable capability.