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My old boss in Tulsa said never prune in August, but a guy at the ISA show said the tree doesn't read a calendar
I got into it with Ray, who ran a crew in Tulsa for 20 years, about whether summer pruning oaks is really a death sentence or just old habit. He says the oak wilt risk from fresh cuts in July and August is not worth any reason, but this guy at the ISA show in Columbus last month told me sap flow and compartmentalization matter way more than the month on the wall. I have been cutting deadwood on oaks here in zone 7 in summer for a bit now and have not lost one yet. Who is actually right here, are you all shutting down oak work in the heat or running it?
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theawest10d ago
We stopped all oak pruning from roughly April through September on my crew after losing a couple big ones to wilt years back, and the year we stuck to that we had zero issues. The ISA guy is right that sap flow and wound closure matter, but the beetles that spread wilt are most active in the heat, so a fresh cut in July is way riskier than the same cut in January. Plenty of people get lucky cutting in summer, but nobody I know who's been doing this 30 years bets a $3000 tree on luck.
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