Tried pruning a live oak in July instead of winter

I had a big job in Atlanta last month and the client insisted on trimming their live oak midsummer. Ended up with way more regrowth than I expected and the tree looked stressed for weeks. Has anyone else run into this with late season cuts on southern oaks?

3 comments

3 Comments

joelt701mo ago

Man, I just read something from a guy over at the extension service who said July cuts basically tell the tree to panic and push out a ton of weak growth. Makes sense why yours looked rough for a while.

theac631mo ago

Jumped into this exact trap a few years back with a client's live oak down in Savannah. That tree shot out these pathetic, spindly sprouts like it was trying to grow a bad wig (and took forever to look normal again). I joked to the homeowner that we'd given the tree a summer haircut that made it look like a stressed-out hedgehog, not a majestic oak.

paul2861mo agoOG Member

Gotta disagree a bit here... I've been cutting live oaks in July for years down in Alabama and never had the kind of trouble @theac63 is talking about. The regrowth is a given, sure, but those sprouts will harden off by fall if you leave them alone and don't go back for a second trim. The stressed look is just the tree bouncing back, not something that'll kill it.