While I'm Not A Newbie,... Why Is Using Spikes to "Prune Only" A Bad Thing?"

Wesspur
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Never really going to be a problem, but thanks for the heads up.
 
Bzzzzzzzzzzz bzzzzzzzzzz *chop* *chop* *chop* whiiiiiirrrrrrr! Circle saw, machete time!

This is not a signature.
 
Because I work all day on trees, and have done for years, I can understand the logic behind it but I don't think a few spike marks is going to kill a tree.
On utility arb blokes run up trees in spikes every few years to no detriment.
Sure I'm going to get stick, all the guys with letters after their name will look down their nose and call me names, I really don't care.
You don't have to jam 'em in at every opportunity, you still branch walk and all the fancy stuff, they're just handy sometimes for awkward bits.
Rest assured I am not by any means alone.
Ohhhh the horror!!!!!!
 
Nah, you aren't nearly alone. All the Haitian and Mexican lawn services down here have a spiker too. They make me some good hatracks to remove and plenty of mysteriously dead Palm trees.

sent using logic and reason from a device of witchcraft.
 
La taupe said:
Because I work all day on trees, and have done for years, I can understand the logic behind it but I don't think a few spike marks is going to kill a tree.
On utility arb blokes run up trees in spikes every few years to no detriment.
Sure I'm going to get stick, all the guys with letters after their name will look down their nose and call me names, I really don't care.
You don't have to jam 'em in at every opportunity, you still branch walk and all the fancy stuff, they're just handy sometimes for awkward bits.
Rest assured I am not by any means alone.
Ohhhh the horror!!!!!!
Click to expand...


Maybe in England the utility arbs prune on spikes, not done here anymore, written in the trimming contracts.

New word for you to learn today. CODIT Look it up. It was created by a fellow named Alex Shigo. You may want to read one of his books (if you know how to read).
 
La taupe said:
Because I work all day on trees, and have done for years, I can understand the logic behind it but I don't think a few spike marks is going to kill a tree.
On utility arb blokes run up trees in spikes every few years to no detriment.
Sure I'm going to get stick, all the guys with letters after their name will look down their nose and call me names, I really don't care.
You don't have to jam 'em in at every opportunity, you still branch walk and all the fancy stuff, they're just handy sometimes for awkward bits.
Rest assured I am not by any means alone.
Ohhhh the horror!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Well...........at least your a honest hack, guess we need guys like you to show others what not to do. Since it is pretty obvious that you want a reaction, why don't you tell us what other hackish things ya do so we can get it out of the way. BTW, there is detriment,and you know this or you wouldn't have posted, like ya said, you just don't care.
 
sgreanbeans said:
Well...........at least your a honest hack, guess we need guys like you to show others what not to do. Since it is pretty obvious that you want a reaction, why don't you tell us what other hackish things ya do so we can get it out of the way. BTW, there is detriment,and you know this or you wouldn't have posted, like ya said, you just don't care.
Click to expand...
If you cut the top half off of all the leads I hear it sprouts back real nice.

sent using logic and reason from a device of witchcraft.
 
sgreanbeans said:
Well...........at least your a honest hack, guess we need guys like you to show others what not to do. Since it is pretty obvious that you want a reaction, why don't you tell us what other hackish things ya do so we can get it out of the way. BTW, there is detriment,and you know this or you wouldn't have posted, like ya said, you just don't care.
Click to expand...
Sure there's so detriment, Most everything you do up there to a healthy tree is of detriment, be it a reduction thinning or whatever.
I care in the sense that if all of my clients trees died I'd have some disgruntled people to deal with, but, guess what? they don't.
I just don't see that it's worth wringing your hands over some small damage that is of no consequence.
Well, anyway, let's see...hackish things I do.... like I said I use the tail end of my rope for light lowering, that, I genuinely feel is a handy skill to have, usually do my own lowering by cutting stubs and using the friction so my groundy has two free hands.
Those are the things I do that I feel are valid. Other things are a bit naughty (safety wise) so I wouldn't say.
I guess I wanted a reaction, why else does anyone post anything on this or any forum, including Twitter FB et al?
I feel that often these forums are overpopulated by rather worthy sorts who scoff at any practice that predates their time.
 
SecondGenMonkey said:
If you cut the top half off of all the leads I hear it sprouts back real nice.

sent using logic and reason from a device of witchcraft.
Click to expand...
Species dependent of course. That's another beef of mine, a lot of the "best practice"
Blurb fails to take into account the way differ trees react to pruning.
Saying you should prune a Poplar in the same way as a Beech is like applying the same veterinary procedure to Hippo and a Hyena.
 
BC WetCoast said:
Maybe in England the utility arbs prune on spikes, not done here anymore, written in the trimming contracts.

New word for you to learn today. CODIT Look it up. It was created by a fellow named Alex Shigo. You may want to read one of his books (if you know how to read).
Click to expand...
 
La taupe said:
Species dependent of course. That's another beef of mine, a lot of the "best practice"
Blurb fails to take into account the way differ trees react to pruning.
Saying you should prune a Poplar in the same way as a Beech is like applying the same veterinary procedure to Hippo and a Hyena.
Click to expand...

True. Fruit trees are fine to hatrack down here If done with the intent of continuing to keep the tree low and easy to pick. Avacado trees are regularly cut to a three foot stump and most mangos are no taller than about 10-15feet.

sent using logic and reason from a device of witchcraft.
 
Sure, there are trees that have been spiked, topped and mutilated that have gone on and survived. The idea is to give the tree the best chance, to do the least amount of damage while you are in it. You do this because you want to be a good steward of the land, well we do, not you. By sticking to the proven standards, you give your clients tree, the best possible outcome. Even then, you cannot guarantee the success, just likelihood of it. Reducing the amount of wounds in a tree reduces the chances of a bad guy getting in. But, that is only for those who give a ****. You, and hackers like you, don't care. That is the difference between us and u. Guys like you are just worried about the coin and getting it as easy as possible. I like coin, but I don't want to earn it by doing crap work. Punching a baby boy in the face, may not kill him, he will probably recover and live on to grow old, that does not mean it is ok to do it. Stabbing a old lady in the leg with a ice pick may wound her, but she is still going to be able to walk, again, does not mean its OK to do it. Spiking a old oak, hurts the tree, no argument possible, it is proven, many many times over. It may live a long time after, but is is weaker as a whole than it was before you did it. So it lives on and you think, "those guys are fools" and you continue to do it because the tree is still alive, then after several years it is dead, well, you spiked it years ago, so it wasn't you that did it. Actually you helped quit a bit. Every little wound that a spike makes is another wound the tree is trying to compartmentalize, taking energy away from other vital functions. Add that to proper pruning wounds, in your case flush cuts, peels and stubs, overtime, that had a huge affect on the over health of the tree. Each time it had to compartmentalize a wound, it loses valuable space to store food over winter, eventually, it has compartmentalized so many wounds that it does not have enough space to store enough food to activate buds in the spring, it may do some, but not all. This is the back end of a downward spiral that gains speed at the end. A weak tree is a easy target. One that you created. Every wound adds up, that is why it is important to keep the wounds to a minimum as much as possible. It may not get a bad guy right away, entering the wound that you created, pruning or a spike wound. But each hit, adds up over time.
All trees react differently to pruning, that is nothing new. That does not mean one tree likes to be spiked more than another. But you already know this, but still do it anyway. Which in most eyes, is worse than the guy who was taught by uncle bubba and actually thinks he is doing it right, he has a excuse, he is ignorant. Cant get mad at someone who is dumb, for doing something dumb. But the guy who knows better, but does it anyways because he is lazy, well that's just a whole other level of hackery, so.....I dub thee, Super Hack.
 
Well, sorry about the late reply I was out punching baby boys in the face, I've got 5 minutes before I leave for an afternoon of putting ice picks in granny's legs.
I'm joking of course but I find your similes frankly ridiculous. These are trees you know, plants.
You can spin the line that any, or a significant number, of spiked trees will die but it's simply not true.
At no point did I say I flush cut and leave rips.
"Good steward of the land"...... thanks for the laugh.
I dub thee...super pompous.
 
Woah! Is this gonna turn into a Capitan Planet episode? Do I need to find Mati and his little monkey friend?

sent using logic and reason from a device forged of witchcraft.
 

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