Most cases of self-pruning happen when branches do not receive enough sunlight and die.

Self-pruning is generally slow and trees retain their lower limbs for a long period.

Slow self-pruning by plantation spruce, particularly before crown closure, is cited as a possible reason for these differences.

Competition reduced crown size in both species, but self-pruning occurred only in quaking aspen.

This form of self-pruning may be a means of saving water or simply a result of their brittle wood.

In more mature tree stands, greater knowledge of light levels will allow us to better predict the death and self-pruning of tree branches.

Self-pruning refers to the shedding of branches that are shaded or diseased and so potentially a drain on the resources of the tree.

Self-pruning of branches was faster on large trees with long crowns than on thin trees with short crowns.

Cladoptosis is thought to have three possible functions, self-pruning (i.e. programmed plant senescence), drought response (characteristic of xerophytes) and liana defence.

GARDENS are littered with branches brought down by the storms but, says Plantlife, this is "cladoptosis" or a form of self-pruning.

Or it can be natural, where trees are planted close enough that the effect is to cause self-pruning of low branches as energy is put into growing up for light reasons and not branchiness.

I also collected seed from the tree (E3) that has consistently recovered best from shoot dieback by self-pruning to a primary leader, although it has had more dieback than the first two and the seed is obviously not the first choice of wildlife.