painting wounds to prevent DED

[murphy4trees]

I have an elm tree to elevate from a row of cedars and was thinking of making a number of small cuts for the clearance. I could also jst make one cut at the trunk, less than 3", and paint it. I didn't even write it up with the estimate in case I thought it best to wait til winter.
I made a bunch of cuts with a pole saw on an elm one summer back in the 90's, and it died the next spring. I was pretty sure it got DED from the cuts I made and I haven't pruned one since, except in the hard cold of Jan-Feb...

Any suggestions..

 

[diltree]

Ask OTG Boston...he is the elm management master, you should see the old elms in the boston common!

 

[jonseredbred]

I made a bunch of cuts with a pole saw on an elm one summer back in the 90's, and it died the next spring.

Un sanitized pole saw blade?

 

[ATH]

If it died that quick, DED was already in the tree...

DED kills very fast, but you are talking about beetle infestation and the fungus spreading all in less than one full growing season.

The untreated cuts may attract beetles, but I don't think the fungus will spread that quickly.

That said, either wait to prune or treat the cuts. This is from The University of Minnesota:
"4. Pruning: If at all possible, pruning should not be attempted during the growing season. Overwintering native elm bark beetles are attracted by dying and cut elms in May and early June; pruning should not be performed at this time. However, because summer emerging adults are generally not attracted to cut or dying elms, pruning in August or September is acceptable if pruning must be done during the growing season. This applies to areas where native elm bark beetle is the only Dutch elm disease vector. It has also been demonstrated that wound dressings significantly reduce attractions of native elm bark beetles to elm injuries. Thus, if pruning or storm damage occurs during the growing season, exposed wood should be covered with an appropriate wound dressing."

 

[OTG BOSTON]

Ask OTG Boston...he is the elm management master, you should see the old elms in the boston common!

Thanks for the compliment, but I've only been at it for a few years. Lets just say I'm a student with some great teachers.

If it were up to me I'd leave the trees alone and wait for winter. We have pruned trees in July-August-September, and have painted the wounds with some success.

I just wouldn't risk it if it were my call.

 

[ckliff]

We're talking only American Elms here, right? DED only affects Am Elms?

 

[Tree Wizard]

DED also will kill red (slippery) elms, rock elms and Camperdown elms. Generally will not kill Siberian or Chinese (now called lacebark in many locals) elms.

We have painted pruning cuts when we have had to prune elms during the growing season - think storms.

 

[murphy4trees]

the good news is that the customer wanted to save some money and not do the whole job, so leaving the elm was a no-brainer. I had planned to make just one cut and have the wound paint in hand at the time.
I looked at another job this year with a row of large osage orange and a large elm in their midsts. I priced it for pruning most of the big osage and leaving a couiple osage and the elm alone. Someone underbid me saying he was going to prune all the tree. Got the impression he was going to make a quick bunch of cuts on the trunk and call that tree pruning. Fortunately the customer had the sense to listen to me and not hire that one. Now they are waiting to see how they deal with the osage fruit before deciding whether to prune or remove. it is their first year in the house.
Thanks for the input.