Just realized I've been pruning young oaks all wrong for years

I was having a beer with a retired city forester from Springfield last weekend, and he asked me how I handle structural pruning on young red oaks. I gave my usual spiel about removing crossing limbs and co-dominant stems. He just shook his head and said, 'You're taking too much, too early. A young oak needs its leaves to build that deep root system. You're starving it for the future.' That hit different because I've been following the same textbook method since my apprenticeship. He explained that for the first 5-7 years, his crews would only take maybe 10% of the canopy, focusing purely on safety issues, and let the tree get established. It made me think about all the trees I've worked on that seemed to stall out. Has anyone else shifted to a much lighter touch with young hardwoods?

3 comments

3 Comments

sage_lewis101mo ago

Yeah, it's like how we overwater houseplants trying to help but end up drowning the roots instead.

hall.ruby1mo ago

My uncle swore by only pruning his apple trees during a full moon. Said the sap flow was different. I tried it once and just got covered in spiders.

coleman.jade11d ago

Man, "starving it for the future" is such a good way to put it. I definitely gave a few young maples the bald look early on, thinking I was helping. Felt more like a tree barber than an arborist, and not a good one. At least @hall.ruby's uncle just got spiders, my trees probably still hold a grudge.