A good way to ensure a healthy, strong crown is to prune a tree when it is young.  Young tree pruning corrects co-dominant leaders, weak angles of branch attachment, and gives a tree a much better chance of surviving a storm event later on in its life. 

        Here is an example of a young Willow Oak that needs some structural pruning.  The ineterior is full of deadwood and crossing limbs. 


  A closer look at the crown reveals just how thick it is up there.  Besides the benefits of providing sound structure, the tree looks great after a proper thinning.



Here is the same Willow Oak after it has been pruned.  Notice how the crown essentially looks the same, while the piles of brush on the ground illustrate how much actually came out of the tree.




   Structural pruning can also be restoration pruning, where the crown has been damaged by a storm.