Had a chat with a landscaper that changed how I look at pruning cuts

I was talking to this old landscaper while he was dropping off a load of branches at my shop last Tuesday. He pointed at a tree I had pruned and said 'your cut is too close to the collar, you're asking for rot down the line.' I always thought a flush cut was the cleanest way, but he explained how the branch collar seals itself if you leave it. Now I'm second-guessing every tree I've worked on, has anyone else had that moment where you realize you've been doing something wrong for years?

3 comments

3 Comments

sarah_mason2mo ago

That old timer saved you a lot of future headaches.

the_susan2mo ago

Three weeks later and I'm still finding notes that old timer tucked into random spots in the boat, @sarah_mason. But you know what, every single one of them has been right so far. Guess I owe him a beer or five.

the_robert2mo ago

Three years I spent flush cutting everything in my front yard before a guy on a jobsite politely told me I was basically giving every branch a slow death sentence. I felt like a total idiot standing there with my loppers. At least @sarah_mason can rest easy knowing I'm not out there hacking at trees anymore, just making proper angled cuts about a quarter inch out from the collar now. My neighbor's oak has this ridiculous scar from my old flush cut that looks like some kind of deformed ear. I guess the upside is I've got plenty of firewood for next winter from all my early pruning mistakes.