Oak trees

[JOEF]

I have some oak trees in my yard, about 3-4 of them,25-30ft tall can I prune them in the summer? Not the dead wood but the living branches,does it do the tree harm to cut in the summer or not???

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

You are in Oak Wilt country, do not trim during the growing season. This will attract insects that may have the Oak Wilt fungal spores sticking all over their little bodies, and this will kill your tree and any other oaks within a 100 yards or so, and then it continues to travel underground from tree to tree until the chain is broken.
If you must trim now, clean your cutting tool with 10% bleach solution before each cut, then immediately paint the wound with spray prunning paint.

 

[JOEF]

Mike does that include dead branches also???

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

No, probably not, but when you cut of a dead limb you need to be careful not to hit the living tissue. You also need to be careful not to open up wounds on other living limbs as the dead limb falls. A lower dead limb would be simple, but removing dead limbs form up in the canopy, without some injury to living tissue is very difficult. Unless it's a possible hazard, I would wait until fall or winter.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Wow, hey, I agree with Mike again!