When it comes to garden maintenance, it’s hard to look past a tree pruner. And, when it comes to tree pruners, you’ll want to check out the STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner. This handy piece of hire equipment is STIHL’s first battery-powered garden and tree pruner with a wide range of uses. Despite its size, the STIHL GTA 26mini-pruner packs a punch. It’s perfect for light-duty tasks around your home, whether you’re up on a ladder pruning trees, sawing overgrown bushes back or getting in behind a hedge to cut away pesky branches.
For big clean-ups through to small garden ideas that require you to cut back plant life, the STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner should be your first port of call. This guide will explore why you should hire this garden tool, along with all the benefits of its cutting-edge technology. Here’s what we’ll cover:
Why you need to prune your plants, trees and bushes
Features of the STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner
Technical specifications of the STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner
Safety equipment for use a STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner
How to use a STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner
Let’s cut into it!
Why you need to prune your plants, trees and bushes
To start with, why should you even bother with pruning the greenery in your yard? Not all trees and plants need pruning to begin with. For example, if they don’t grow in a way that looks unsightly. In saying that, many plants, trees and bushes can benefit from regular pruning.
Looks
We’ll start with the most obvious. Many Kiwi gardens prioritise pruning in their outdoor space because it makes their yard look better. There are so many incredible garden designs out there, and one common theme with all of them is that they’re well-kept. With many trees and plant life, they won’t just grow upwards. Instead, many hedges, vines, trees and plants tend to grow in all directions. Especially if you’re considering small garden ideas, overgrown plant life can take up a lot of space. If you want to create an incredible space without breaking the bank, read our guide that explores setting a budget for landscaping your garden.
Plant health
In many cases, the act of pruning a tree or plant is to remove dead branches. Getting rid of these unwanted stems and branches helps with the overall health of whatever you’re pruning. If a stem or branch is diseased, it can spread and cause damage to the overall tree or plant. For more advice for a healthy garden, check out our guide on how to create mulch with a wood chipper. Mulch is also a fantastic way to help your garden to grow and flourish.
Top tip: There are also many ways that prioritising the health of your garden can also impact your own health positively.
Prevent damage
Unfortunately, trees and plant life don’t have the cognitive ability to only grow within a certain space. Especially when it comes to large trees and vines, plant life can end up damaging your property if left unchecked. Vines can wrap around and damage fences, branches can pierce and damage guttering, and trees can get in the way of powerlines. Regular pruning can often mitigate all of these problems.
Maximise yield
Whether you’re after more flowers or fruit, regular pruning when your tree or plant is in season can help to maximise your yield. Sometimes, branches, bushes and leaves can block sunlight from your plant. Removing these excess or dead parts of the plant can let more light in, which helps to encourage flowers, fruits and buds to grow.
Features of the STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner
There are many reasons why the STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner is seen as a cut above when it comes to garden maintenance and garden landscaping in general. First off, its lightweight design makes this tool fantastic and easy to manouver. This makes the tree pruner easy to operate and transport safely. The battery on this garden tool is a light and powerful 10.8c AS 2 lithium-ion battery. The battery has a run time of up to 25 minutes or approximately 80 cuts. There are so many other key benefits of the STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner to explore.
Impressive saw chain
Given its high chain speed, this wee electric pruner guarantees quick results and a clean cutting pattern. The robust STIHL Micro 3 saw chain that this pruner uses is designed to give low vibrations while continuing to be an efficient pruner.
Helpful LED battery and charge level indicator
For your convenience, a charge level indicator is located near the trigger on the STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner. This LED is easily readable and allows you to check how much battery capacity is left at the click of a button.
Flexible protective hood
The chain on the STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner is covered with a protective hood which allows you to use the full length of the bar. The hood can also swivel 90 degrees, allowing you always to have an overview of the cut you are making.
Handy carry bag
It may not seem like a big deal for some, but transport is really important when you hire garden tools. Unlike its bulkier counterparts, the STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner comes with a wall-mountable carry bag for easy transportation. This carry bag also provides sale storage away from ever-changing weather.
Technical specifications of the STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner
If you’re into stats and numbers, you’ll be keen to see the technical specifications of the STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner. Given its size, they’re really impressive. The specs of this wee tree pruner include:
Technical Specifications
If you’re into stats and numbers, you’ll be keen to see the technical specifications of the STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner. Given its size, they’re really impressive. The specs of this wee tree pruner include:
Technical Data | Values |
Bar length | 10cm |
Voltage | 11V |
Weight | 1 - 2kg |
Chain speed | 8m/sec |
Top tip: If you think the job at hand may require a larger chainsaw, check out our extensive selection online.
Safety equipment for using a STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner
Given the nature of this tree pruner and gardening in general, safety needs to be top priority. This includes wearing the correct personal protective equipment. Some of this safety equipment is available to buy at Hirepool. Gear you’ll need for using this tree pruner includes:
Each piece of equipment for hire at Hirepool will come with its own safety instructions for use. You must read these before using this machinery. If you’re picking up a tree pruner for a friend or colleague, you also must ensure that they read the safety information ahead of time.
Top tip: When it comes to picking up this piece of equipment, it’s relatively light. This means it’s easy to carry and transport in your car.
How to use a STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner
Whether building equipment or any other hire equipment, we often break down our safety instructions for use into three sections. Each section needs to be followed carefully so that you avoid an unfortunate accident and your STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner operates as intended. You’ll need to read the pre-start safety checks, starting procedure and operating instructions on your safety instructions. General safety considerations for using this pruner include:
- Beware of falling branches
- Always have a clear working area
- Always hole the electric pruner firmly with both hands
- Always keep slight downward pressure on the saw when cutting, release pressure when coming to the end of a cut
Reading and following the instructions will help you with garden maintenance or bring your small garden ideas to life. For more general information about saw safety, read our guide on using a chainsaw everything you should know.
Why you should hire a pruner instead of buying it
When it comes to some garden maintenance and garden landscaping equipment, it can make sense to hire it rather than buy it. For smaller weekly pruning, using smaller hand prunes makes sense. However, when you need to use a larger electric or petrol pruner like our STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner, your plant life is probably too overgrown for hand sheers. Given how long it takes for plant life to grow to a size that requires a motorised pruner, you may not need one as often. Hiring this gear can be the way to go to save money on the upfront cost, maintenance and storage.
Ready to get pruning?
There are many reasons to prune in your garden and even more reasons to hire our STIHL GTA 26 mini-pruner. If you’re looking for any other gear to help with garden maintenance or garden landscaping, you can view our range of equipment online. Then, once booked on the website, you can easily pick it up from your nearest Hirepool branch. If you’re keen for more tips, advice and inspiration to do with your outdoor space, head over to our Hirepool Lawn and Garden Hub. This area of our website is loaded with handy guides and blogs, including:
