How to groom an Oak sapling as it grows

[penright]

I would like to trim the tree so as to be able to walk under it. Let me fill in some details.

Just after my wife and I bought our new house my father-in-law gave us some saplings. He had several large oak trees and every year he would have to clean up under them. That spring he sent a few home in a jar of water with my wife. I planted them in the front yard and kept the one that really wanted to grow. It has become a tradition to take at least annual pictures of the grandkids to chart both growths. That was spring 2017, it was the first spring in the new house. The father-in-law always enjoyed seeing new pictures of how it was doing. He loved to garden, kept bees, and sold both at the local farmer's market. I say all of this to give context to how sentimental this tree is to me. Let me post a few pictures and then I will get into the meat of my question. The tree locations is about 20 miles SW of Oklahoma City.




This picture would have been spring 2017. It was the first with this set of grandchildern. They are in most of the pictures since they are over to the house most of the time. They live on a 4th generation farm. The boy was going to help by hooking up the tractor and pulling it out for me.


Rare one with all the grandkids. June 2019





You can see where it started to Y on me. I took a chance and cut one off, then train the other somewhat stright.
It turn out OK. Not perfect, but OK.


Here we are a few years down the road. May of 2021


Mother-in-law, July 4th, 2021


This was taken last weekend. The grandson with mom and dad. Sep 2023.


Now back to the question. Since this guy started out with a Y, will the current lowest branch continue to rise from the ground? Right now the tree does favor the left side of the picture. If I cut the lower branches will that force the trunk part above to grow more into a trunk? I was told to do any work in February. That was when I took off half and straightened it up. Started to trim off those lower branches this February but I was afraid it would take off too much food producing. Is it too late to trim this coming February?

Let me zoom in on the area I am talking about.


This picture is facing west.

This one is more northeast.

 

[pdqdl]

That tree will be ok with time and a little bit of luck. My recommendations:

1. Remove the iron rod. That will never help the tree. Make sure you remove any ties holding it to the tree.
2. ALL the lower branches would someday be removed by nature, providing it was growing up in a crowded forest. Out in the open lawn, they will spread wide, quickly. Those branches are too low to remain, so prune early in their life, so as to encourage more top growth.
3. That cluster of low branches will be very stressful to the tree if removed all at once. Prune off the smallest branch now, but cut off the tips of each of the remaining lower branches. This is called "subordination", and it's purpose is to prevent a branch from growing into a major lead on the tree or becoming any larger. Eventually, the upper branches will cause the lower branches to be shaded more and subsequently they will fail and fall off.
4. As soon as the upper canopy begins to thrive and the lower branches are no longer competing with the central leader: cut them off.

For small cuts like your tree, I recommend using a sharp hand saw rather than a chainsaw. Be sure that you don't peel the bark on the lower side as the branch breaks off. This is very bad form:


As to waiting for February, I'd cut now, providing your hand saw is sharp. Oak trees are generally recommended to not prune during the spring and summer, as the beetle that transmits oak wilt will smell the pruning wounds and might be drawn towards the recently trimmed tree. That isn't as much of an issue in the fall, and you will only be making a few small cuts on a rather small tree. Still... You may wish to wait until after the leaf drop.

Reasons to not trim in the spring and summer:
Oak wilt, caused by the fungal pathogen Ceratocystis fagacearum, is a devastating disease that affects oak trees (genus Quercus) in North America. It is a filamentous ascomycete fungus. It belongs to the Ceratocystidaceae family and is characterized by its unique biology. The pathogen has a complex life cycle involving both sexual and asexual reproduction stages, with the production of asexual conidia and sexual ascospores. It primarily spreads through root grafting between adjacent oak trees. Once established in a host, it colonizes the sapwood, leading to vessel plugging and disruption of water transport.

Oak wilt can be transmitted through several mechanisms, with the two primary pathways being root grafting and insect vectors. Root grafting occurs when the roots of adjacent oak trees come into contact and fuse, providing a direct path for the pathogen to move from an infected tree to a healthy one. Insect vectors, such as sap-feeding beetles (Nitidulidae), can carry oak wilt spores and facilitate the disease's long-distance spread by introducing the pathogen into healthy trees.
The insects are active through the fall, although the larvae have already emerged, and will not be translocating to your tree. The pupae are the principal over-wintering form, and they aren't going to be traveling to your tree. Some species do over-winter as adults, but that seems unlikely in your area.

 

[pdqdl]

Learning to prune properly is important, too!

 

[penright]

That tree will be ok with time and a little bit of luck. My recommendations:

I hope so.
Thank you so much for all this detailed information. I learned so much about pruning oaks.

1. Remove the iron rod. That will never help the tree. Make sure you remove any ties holding it to the tree.

I noticed the tie was getting tight when I was taking these pictures. So now they are all removed. I was surprised at how much it grew this summer.

2. ALL the lower branches would someday be removed by nature, providing it was growing up in a crowded forest. Out in the open lawn, they will spread wide, quickly. Those branches are too low to remain, so prune early in their life, so as to encourage more top growth.
3. That cluster of low branches will be very stressful to the tree if removed all at once. Prune off the smallest branch now, but cut off the tips of each of the remaining lower branches. This is called "subordination", and it's purpose is to prevent a branch from growing into a major lead on the tree or becoming any larger. Eventually, the upper branches will cause the lower branches to be shaded more and subsequently they will fail and fall off.
4. As soon as the upper canopy begins to thrive and the lower branches are no longer competing with the central leader: cut them off.

Something like this?

For small cuts like your tree, I recommend using a sharp hand saw rather than a chainsaw. Be sure that you don't peel the bark on the lower side as the branch breaks off. This is very bad form:
As to waiting for February, I'd cut now, providing your hand saw is sharp. Oak trees are generally recommended to not prune during the spring and summer, as the beetle that transmits oak wilt will smell the pruning wounds and might be drawn towards the recently trimmed tree. That isn't as much of an issue in the fall, and you will only be making a few small cuts on a rather small tree. Still... You may wish to wait until after the leaf drop.

When the leaf drops, does that mean the sap(energy) has gone back into the roots? That is what I was told for the reason to wait till February. Would you say, any branch 1/2" or less will be ok? I was gifted my father-in-law's tree saw. I bet it is sharp.

The "Proper Pruning Techniques" That bottom cut upstream from the top cut is to prevent the tear out you were talking about, correct? Seeing the picture, I can see how that will cause the break caused by the weight outside of the cut would cause the bark to rip.
Thanks again for your time.

Reasons to not trim in the spring and summer:
Oak wilt, caused by the fungal pathogen Ceratocystis fagacearum, is a devastating disease that affects oak trees (genus Quercus) in North America. It is a filamentous ascomycete fungus. It belongs to the Ceratocystidaceae family and is characterized by its unique biology. The pathogen has a complex life cycle involving both sexual and asexual reproduction stages, with the production of asexual conidia and sexual ascospores. It primarily spreads through root grafting between adjacent oak trees. Once established in a host, it colonizes the sapwood, leading to vessel plugging and disruption of water transport.

Oak wilt can be transmitted through several mechanisms, with the two primary pathways being root grafting and insect vectors. Root grafting occurs when the roots of adjacent oak trees come into contact and fuse, providing a direct path for the pathogen to move from an infected tree to a healthy one. Insect vectors, such as sap-feeding beetles (Nitidulidae), can carry oak wilt spores and facilitate the disease's long-distance spread by introducing the pathogen into healthy trees.
The insects are active through the fall, although the larvae have already emerged, and will not be trans-locating to your tree. The pupae are the principal over-wintering form, and they aren't going to be traveling to your tree. Some species do over-winter as adults, but that seems unlikely in your area.

Very interesting.

 

[pdqdl]

Something like this?

Yes. I think you have the idea.

I would clip the tips of all of the lower branches that will be eventually removed, and I would prune away any portions of those branches that were taller than the foliage still attached to the central leader.

The idea is to leave as much energy harvesting foliage as possible, while stimulating elongation growth in other areas.

The general prohibition against pruning Oaks until wintertime is pretty much exclusively for the purpose of avoiding oak wilt transmission. if you look around town, you will generally find tree services out trimming trees all year long. Generally, less tree trimming in the winter then in the summer, but that is due more to customer expectations than anything else. That, and it can be rather difficult to find all the dead branches in a tree when the leaves are not on.

 

[muddy42]

In Europe this gets called 'french pruning.' As above you prune off any competing any leaders completely and reduce the lower branches, forcing the tree to send its growing energy upwards. I start by taking off about a 1/3 from the lower branches, but these can be removed completely eventually. You can keep doing this for as long as you can reach the branches. I've got some amazing results - turning ugly bushy trees into fantastically straight specimens.

 

[penright]

This is how much I took off with loppers. Too much? Little more? Good?
How long should I wait for the tree to recover before doing more?





I removed the strap but forgot to pull the stake. It is definitely gone now.

 

[muddy42]

Looks about right. I'd also maybe reduce the length of some of the higher shoots that could be trying to create alternative leaders.

What's the black plastic circle at the base? Hopefully that's not the original bucket, the tree will need more room for the roots than that.

 

[penright]

What's the black plastic circle at the base?

No, just a border. It was planted as a sapling and I put the border and rocks to keep it from being mowed over accidentally. The sapling was not purchased, it was given to me. My father-in-law's place had huge oak trees that were creating saplings all the time. When he was grooming under them one time that my wife was there, he threw 3 of them in a jar of water and sent them with her. I planted all 3 in the same area and after a few weeks this was the one that looked the best, so it was the one I went with. I posted more details in the OP just for context. Every time we visited him until he passed, he would want to see the latest pictures.
I had a lot of plastic borders, flower beds, etc. that were lined on the outside with rocks. For example, look at the first picture in the OP. I was constantly cleaning grass out, so I pulled the rocks and just left the border. I think that looks a lot cleaner anyway.

 

[noahds]

To groom an Oak sapling as it grows, engage a professional tree service for pruning and care to ensure its healthy development.

 

[penright]

I thought I would update, I did take a little more off.


Some has already tried to grow back.

 

[pdqdl]

Wait til the leaves drop, then clip the volunteers that are coming out where you don't wish for more.

By the way, that bottom picture looks like bad pruning. Stubs like that are generally frowned upon. When the tree goes dormant, prune that back to the branch bark collar.

 

[penright]

I was waiting for Feb, was a little late.
Is that still too much of a stub?

Here are the before pictures.


And the after ...

 

[Seachaser]

Never leave a stub. It looks good. You can prune anytime. Directive vs corrective pruning. Corrective is dormant and corrective is when it’s growing. Corrective can lead to strange growing directions. Watch the top and prune to a central leader and no forks. A great website, devoted to pecans, but can apply to all hardwoods, is https://northernpecans.blogspot.com/search?q=Directive+vs.

 

[penright]

A great website, devoted to pecans, but can apply to all hardwoods, is https://northernpecans.blogspot.com/search?q=Directive+vs.

That was interesting. I will do more searching on the two-foot rule.

Never leave a stub.

I was told to cut it at the shoulder, where does the shoulder stop and stub start?
Something like in last the last picture?

 

[BeatCJ]

Not quite that far. The bark collar is best shown on the branch on the lower left. You can see the different texture in the bark.

 

[pdqdl]

That was interesting. I will do more searching on the two-foot rule.


I was told to cut it at the shoulder, where does the shoulder stop and stub start?
Something like in last the last picture?

No! Flush cutting is far worse than leaving a bit of a stub exposed.

That tree will grow and swell the diameter with time. All those little stubs will disappear into the interior of the trunk. Like this:

 

[penright]

Been busy and just got back to post my update. I messed up. For some reason, the last two updates did not hit my email and I did not know there was an update. I did exactly what you two said not to do. I hope I did not kill it.

Here are some before ...



Here are the afters ...








Here is a zoomed-out picture of it currently. This is my sister-in-law and her friend.
I can now only hope for the best. Earlier that day I had tried and cultivate some pholx that was taking over a flower bed.
It was stress and my not survied, but it did not hurt to try. Plus I did it at the wrong time of year, so the odds are not good.

 

[BeatCJ]

Not too bad. In my opinion, your faces are a little bit too vertical, slightly cutting into the collar on the bottom. If you take any more branches, the top of the cut is in the correct place, but at the bottom, angle a little more away from the stem (trunk) of the tree. The bark collar is much less defined on the bottom of the branch, so I am probably nit-picking.

Hard to tell from your photos, but I don't see any buds opening and your lawn looks pretty dormant, you didn't kill your tree.

Phlox is pretty resilient, depending on variety, it's most often grown from cuttings. I think your statement "taking over a flower bed." says everything. Some like damp, others like more drainage.

 

[penright]

@BeatCJ thank you so much. It may have gotten lost in the shuffle. In the first post, I explained this sapling has sentimental value. Well, I guess it's not much of a sapling anymore.

In my opinion, your faces are a little bit too vertical, slightly cutting into the collar on the bottom.

When you started talking about the faces being a little too vertical, I thought you were talking about my sister-in-law.

Hard to tell from your photos, but I don't see any buds opening and your lawn looks pretty dormant, you didn't kill your tree.

My oak trees in the back are not budding yet either. There are some down the road from my house that is budding, so I was starting to worry.