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I keep seeing crews in my area over-prune young oaks, leaving maybe 30% of the canopy.
It sets the tree back years and creates weak structure, but they keep doing it because the client thinks it looks 'tidy' right after the job.
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umamoore6mo ago
Drives me crazy seeing that happen on my street too... it's such short-term thinking. They're basically setting those trees up to fail in the next big storm because the growth comes in all weak and crowded. I wish there was a better way to show people how a properly pruned tree actually leads to a stronger, nicer shape in the long run. Feels like you're just shouting into the wind sometimes.
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derekp706mo ago
My neighbor's oak got that treatment five years ago. It now costs him more in corrective pruning than he saved with the cheap initial cut. The real bill comes due later.
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jordanc684mo ago
Not sure if the growth after a bad cut is actually "weak" though @umamoore? I've seen some of those hacked up oaks put on a ton of new branches real fast, but they're all crowded and rubbing together. That's more of a structural problem than a strength thing with the wood itself, at least that's what my arborist neighbor told me. The real issue is those limbs grow in at crappy angles and are way more likely to split out in a storm.
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