Arboriculture

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Good arboricultural care can reduce the risks of broken tree branches like this one
Good arboricultural care can reduce the risks of broken tree branches like this one

Arboriculture (pronounced /'ɑːbərɪkʌltʃə/) is the cultivation of trees and shrubs. The discipline includes the study of how they grow and respond to cultural practices and the environment as well as aspects of cultivation such as selection, planting, care, and removal.

The purpose is generally to manage amenity trees. That is trees where their value to the landscape is greater than that of their wood content. Trees offer environmental benefits as well as cultural, heritage and habitat for fauna. The combined value including aesthetics exceeds the value of a trees worth from a forestry wood perspective. Amenity trees are usually in a garden or urban setting, and arboriculture is the management of them for plant health and longevity, pest and pathogen resistance, risk management and ornamental or aesthetic reasons. In this, it needs to be distinguished from forestry, which is the commercial production and use of timber and other forest products from plantations and forests. Some definitions of the term arboriculture extend it only to the care of trees. "Arboriculture" is not synonymous with Arborsculpture.

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  • Harris, Richard W. (1983). ARBORICULTURE: Care of Trees, Shrubs, and Vines in the Landscape. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632: Prentice-Hall, Inc., pp. 2-3. ISBN 0-13-043935-5.