pea
ArboristSite Operative
When I'm pruning should I spray where I cut the limb off with that pruning spray? Is this important or not? Any advice I would welcome. Thank you
Pea
Pea
pruning?
- Thread starter pea
- Start date
Help Support Arborist Forum:
Guy Meilleur
Addicted to ArboristSite
No.
What kind of reel are you using to troll with? Is it strong enough to reel in the sharks at AS?
What kind of reel are you using to troll with? Is it strong enough to reel in the sharks at AS?
MasterBlaster
TreeHouse Elder
Kneejerk Bombas
ArboristSite King
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2001
- Messages
- 36,971
- Reaction score
- 9,980
It depends.
If you need to cut an Oak or an Elm, in IL and many other locations, then you should use paint to protect the tree and any surrounding trees from fungal wilt diseases. It works by making the wound less attractive and accessible to the insects that carry fungal spores.
Once an Oak tree has Wilt, it is dead, as well as every Oak within an unbroken chain of about 150 feet of each other. So Oak Wilt is a very serious disease and the pruning paint is very important. The same is true for American, Red and a few other Elms.
The paint is called pruning paint and is available at most garden centers or hardware stores.
It's also a good idea to clean your cutting tools off with some rubbing alcohol. A paint brush and small bowl work great for this. Just slobber some on and wait a few minutes. You want to prevent spreading diseases from one tree to the next.
Remember, fungal spores last a long time. A plant pathologist told me when I asked about spreading fungal diseases with saws or other cutting tools, "That's how we spread fungus around in the lab, with metal tools." So this is an important step too.
There was a study sometime ago, that I never saw and I heard was very poorly done, that suggested that pruning paint did not slow decay of the wood after a pruning cut.
It was instantly accepted as the finest and most authoritative study ever done, because frankly, arborists hate paint!
Word of this study spread like wild fire. Soon, there were additional results added to the study: The petroleum products in the paint may even be harmful to the tree, the paint locks in moisture and causes even more rot, and my favorite, it causes cancer to the tree.
In my 25 or so years of tree work I have sprayed a lot of cans of pruning paint and I've also made a lot of cuts without it. There is no perceivable difference in how fast a wound heals or how much decay occurs afterwards, between a painted and unpainted wound. For protection against wilt diseases though, it is what the experts recommend.
If you need to cut an Oak or an Elm, in IL and many other locations, then you should use paint to protect the tree and any surrounding trees from fungal wilt diseases. It works by making the wound less attractive and accessible to the insects that carry fungal spores.
Once an Oak tree has Wilt, it is dead, as well as every Oak within an unbroken chain of about 150 feet of each other. So Oak Wilt is a very serious disease and the pruning paint is very important. The same is true for American, Red and a few other Elms.
The paint is called pruning paint and is available at most garden centers or hardware stores.
It's also a good idea to clean your cutting tools off with some rubbing alcohol. A paint brush and small bowl work great for this. Just slobber some on and wait a few minutes. You want to prevent spreading diseases from one tree to the next.
Remember, fungal spores last a long time. A plant pathologist told me when I asked about spreading fungal diseases with saws or other cutting tools, "That's how we spread fungus around in the lab, with metal tools." So this is an important step too.
There was a study sometime ago, that I never saw and I heard was very poorly done, that suggested that pruning paint did not slow decay of the wood after a pruning cut.
It was instantly accepted as the finest and most authoritative study ever done, because frankly, arborists hate paint!
Word of this study spread like wild fire. Soon, there were additional results added to the study: The petroleum products in the paint may even be harmful to the tree, the paint locks in moisture and causes even more rot, and my favorite, it causes cancer to the tree.
In my 25 or so years of tree work I have sprayed a lot of cans of pruning paint and I've also made a lot of cuts without it. There is no perceivable difference in how fast a wound heals or how much decay occurs afterwards, between a painted and unpainted wound. For protection against wilt diseases though, it is what the experts recommend.
MasterBlaster
TreeHouse Elder
That was beautiful, Mike.
