hannah_west39•3d agoMost Upvoted

Rolled my eyes at my mentor’s pruning advice... then a storm proved him right

He told me to leave a 6-inch stub on that big maple branch last spring, I thought he was crazy, but after that windstorm knocked down three trees on my street that maple didn't lose a single limb has anyone else had old-timer tips that actually saved you?

3 comments

3 Comments

ray_sullivan3d ago

Yeah the stub thing is actually called a "natural target pruning cut" or something like that. The way I heard it from an old arborist friend is that leaving that stub lets the branch die back naturally and the tree can seal it off better from the inside. Cutting it flush like people think is right actually opens up the trunk to rot and decay way faster. That storm damage you dodged is exactly why those old timers do things the way they do. It's not about being stubborn, it's about watching trees for 40 years and seeing what works lol.

blair_chen813d ago

Wait, so you're telling me I should be thanking the guy who smashed into my tree instead of yelling at him? Guess I owe my neighbor an apology for keying his car then, oops.

olivia_lopez9813h ago

Crazy how one bad car accident ended up saving my grandma's whole garden from some kind of fungus the next spring.