This is the most informative and important video on pruning I have ever watched. I have learnt more in this video than in ten years in the Feild. I thank you,
The importance of everything covered in this video cannot be overstated. The certified arborist exam topics are important, but these concepts should be more prominent. Structural pruning training is essential.
Thanks for your great educational efforts! One thing I don't understand is when you said to take off the most on the largest branches, since they're generally the longest and you get the most bang for your buck (around 19:00). How does that relate to the increase in strength from the larger wood, assuming a strong attachment? Has the tree not already spent a great deal of effort proportionally balancing its own wood?
A lot of species of trees in my area, if left to there own devices out in the open, can grow sufficiently long that they will break under their own weight. Even in my backyard there is a Siberian Elm with many failures. With the reduction in mechanical strain (moment, in this case) the limb will be better able to handle environmental fluctuations such as snow load, wind events, water weight etc. My boss's own terminology is, half jokingly, to "force the taper." That is what Gilman showed in those later slides with the significant increase in trunk size and improved aspect ratio by subordinating, or slowing the growth, of the largest limbs. My two cents worth of interpretation.
I'm 66 years old and started learning about arbiculture. I've learned to climb trees SRT and DRT and pruning/removing trees. I'm learning all I can on RU-vid and reading your book. I'll be making a few reduction cuts on a mature Burr Oak tree in Indiana in a couple weeks. Do you recommend any type of sealer or treatments on the wounds? I saw lanolin mentioned in your pruning book.i see pure lanolin sold in jars in a paste form. If I use that do I apply it very thin? Thanks for any help.
Question: I have a 6 year old (?) Japanese red maple tree and two (1.5”) branches are touching. Both are in the center and one is a leader. Can I gradually push them apart with clamps? I don’t want to cut one off.
That’s a possibility, but if the union is growing an established “V” shaped union, and you can’t open it further, it may need it. This is when pictures are needed; or contact at least a couple local certified arborists to see if you get the same conclusion.
Do these reduction cuts result in stubs sticking up into the sky? Also, one should not freak out if the tree is leaning? I have two trees, two different opinions on them from tree cutters. One says cut them down, the other says 'top' them?!?! I say, clean them up and cut out the dead ones and cut back the heavy ones. Who's right?
What should you use on a pruning cut or even more extreme trunk removal? One day in a pinch I smeared baby sunscreen zinc oxide ointment on the cuts and the tree thrived!
The ANSI standards indicate wound dressings that prohibit closure are not recommended. There is no research that supports any topical for wound closure. Some are recommended to prevent pathogen transfer.
You've mentioned the exception of the Netherlands (as a place where severe raising supposedly doesn't happen) which frankly shocks me as someone living here since 2004. Since around 2013, trees are now routinely topped and lions tailed by the urban municipal workers (with ETT certification). Here is a video of trees lions tailed in 2016 and now in 2022 been 'repaired' with many top heavy tree branches having failed during a recent storm; these previously healthy trees are now severely compromised and have less than 20% of the original crown. Here is the video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XfQsL9DCtns.html
I'm always at odds with co-workers about what constitutes 15% of a tree's foliage. I agree people (including me) can't tell how much it takes to reach that upper limit.
Pruning dose is a challenge. I recommend leaving cut live green tissue in view of the arborist to be sure they can make comparisons to determine amounts. Don't cut and chip... you will never know!
one of the biggest problem I see in this industry is communication, and the fact that no 2 eyes see the same. Reduction can mean many different things to different people and thin does not mean Lion tail. Im an Arborist in SLC and have been doing reduction cuts and weight reduction on many of the Lion Tailed Trees out here.
Reduction cuts and removal cuts have only one definition if the arborist is familiar with the BMP's. If they are defining in their own terms, then they are performing unethical practices.
@@indianaarboristassociation7973 we are dealing with unethical practices. most of the tree companies are small family owned and there is no training. I worked for the Power company and that's where I got the ISA training but when I went to small companies I learned really fast they don't know what they are doing, if you can climb a tree and turn on a chainsaw than you are a trimmer. I just quit, but for the last 4 years I have been trimming Lion tailed and Pollarded trees, the sad thing is even the Biggest tree company out here only has a few arborist on staff and they are the estimators, so when they send a crew to a house its a roll of the dice for the homeowner getting someone that knows or someone that just cuts. I Get to a customers house and asses the trees and usually talk them out of what the estimator says and do what is right, but its hard to do that without making the estimator look Ignorant. Thanks for the reply and sorry for the RANT, I'm passionate about my work.
This is a really interesting discussion with good results, but so much pruning discussion and training still seems to focus exclusively on what to remove rather than what to save and preserve. This feels like the extraction model of tree care. I believe we need to move away from such an extraction approach exclusively (though I see the need for good pruning for safety and structural integrity) to focus also upon what needs to stay and remain protected (in terms of the crown). It is important to know what to remove for optimal safety, but typically most urban trees here in the Netherlands suffer from over pruning even if cuts are correctly executed. So many trees suffer from lions tailing, or over raising, which leads to hollowed out top heavy trees with too little foliage for food production leading to over stressed trees and trees with little resilience against sun or high winds. Let's get back to maintaining balance with the 2 to 1 crown to trunk ratio. Our masculine or standardized approach towards cutting and removing could really benefit from the tree's unique perspective and from a more holistic ecological approach. Let's also not forget the complexity of crown structures for damping in terms of structural integrity during wind. Having smaller branches near the trunk with foliage is not detrimental for wind resistance but necessary (at least according to Ken James).
