Triiming Q. how about ya pro's

[The Lawn Shark]

When trimming branches off a oak tree 70' to 90' and moost of the one that need trimmed off are about thirty feet up....What is the proper distance they should be cut off from the main stem or shoulthey be flush to the main stem when you cut em off

 

[ddhlakebound]

Is there a reason for taking off large limbs, especially all the way back to the main stem?

To answer your question, the proper place to make the cut is just outside the collar.

Stubs are bad. Flush cuts are worse.

If you cannot identify what the collar is, or where it ends, you probably need to do some more reading and learning before you fire up the saw and start cutting on trees meant to be kept. Search the forum here, I'm sure there's lots of text/diagrams on the subject.

No offense intended, everybody starts learning from zero at some point, just learn to do it right before you start cutting.

 

[Canyonbc]

Check this sight out

http://www.tree-pruning.com/how-to-prune.html

When you look at the branch where it has come over the other branch...there is a little bit if a humped ridge, known as the branch collar. You want to cut just beyond that...leaving that little collar. I am blanking on the name of the cells right now but escentially the cells in the collar heal and seal the cut faster and i want to say better then if you flush cut it...or leave a stub.

Sorry, i wish i could be more descriptive then i was, so hopefully.

A. that web site can help

B. Doing a search, might be your best bet.

C. other guys here on the sight.

I was always taught...not sure how well it holds..but when it doubt remember "trees dont need people, people need trees"...again a quote and generalization.

Good luck

Canyon

 

[Canyonbc]

nodes...is what i was thinking of.

 

[Kogafortwo]

Stihl's pruning guide

Stihl used to have a PDF of a pretty good beginner's pruning guide on their website, but I can't find it anymore. Lucky thing I printed it out a long time ago. It explained branch collars, nodes, shaping vs cutback, etc pretty well.

 

[Unknown Cutter]

cut the limbs off to where they leave a bump on the trunk but not a stub.
make sure to put an undercut so the limb wont tear off bark when it goes

 

[Themadd1]

Here is a quick diagram.

 

[The Lawn Shark]

Thanks for the advice....I'll have a ton of ?'s to come...

 

[treeseer]

Thanks for the advice....I'll have a ton of ?'s to come...

The first one should be: Why do the 30' high limbs have to be cut, and the rest of the tree not?

Does the lift machine have a 30' range?

opcorn:

 

[The Lawn Shark]

theres about three or four of them thaty need to come off, Two of them have die back....(dont know the proper term) but they are dead half way back the branch from the tip of the branch toward the main stem...I think it got struck by lighting about a year ago....The tree is on my prop...nothing is in danger of the branches hitting anything or even if the tree comes down...
I like the tree because its my shade tree for when I go fishing @ the pond that the tree lives beside.

-T.L.S.

 

[Bermie]

....
I like the tree because its my shade tree for when I go fishing @ the pond that the tree lives beside.

-T.L.S.

I like this guy, he can stay! :jester: :jester:

 

[Dadatwins]

Some pics of the victim/tree would help.

 

[oldirty]

The first one should be: Why do the 30' high limbs have to be cut, and the rest of the tree not?

Does the lift machine have a 30' range?

opcorn:

thats awesome. lol

 

[eljefe]

Trimming

Hi, Everything everybody else has said I agree with. Including the fishing! One detail I would emphasize is not to let the bark at the bottom of the branch tear as the limb is cut. This would do more damage than letting the limb stay on. The way I was taught to do this (and it's not the only way) is to put in an undercut on the branch say about a foot out and then cut the limb off directly above that. This leaves about a one foot stub. Then! cut-usually from the top down with the gut of the blade just slightly outside the collar--less than a saw chain width, an eight of an inch maybe. I like to have a single cut top to bottom nice and smooth for the tree to heal up nicely. The one foot stub is light enough in weight not to worry about tearing the bark. And with the weight of the limb removed I don't have to worry about anything except how I do the collar cut. This is a slower method, but in trimming most of the time is spent getting up and down, anyway, not in a few cuts.
El Jefe