Can we talk about how I spent 5 years cutting branches wrong before a storm showed me?

Last big windstorm here in Portland, I lost three limbs off a client's oak. I'd been making my cuts flush to the trunk every time, thinking that's how you do it. After the storm, an old timer walked by and asked why I left those stubs that got ripped. He pointed at my flush cuts and said 'you been cutting off the branch collar this whole time?' I had no idea what he was talking about. He showed me how to find the ridge and make a proper cut. Never even saw it in any training video. Anyone else figure out they were cutting wrong way later than they should have?

3 comments

3 Comments

henry_ross14d ago

My buddy Dave was trimming his maple tree for three years straight, always leaving a little nub because he thought it helped the tree heal. Then his neighbor who worked for the city arborist crew told him those stubs were basically invitations for rot and bugs to move in. He showed him the branch collar and Dave felt like an idiot for not knowing sooner. He said he went back and looked at all his old cuts and half of them had that black decay creeping in.

paul_ramirez14d ago

Man, I did the exact same thing with my oak trees a few years back. Once I learned about the branch collar and started cutting flush to it, the trees looked way better and no more of that creepy black rot showing up.

stellat4614d ago

Notice how many things we do by habit without ever questioning why, and then one random comment from a stranger changes everything. @paul_ramirez your point about the black rot disappearing is exactly what happened with my cuts too, it's amazing how one small change fixes a problem you didn't even know you created. It makes me wonder what other everyday things we're all doing wrong just because nobody ever pointed out the right way to do them.