# proper pruning



## murphy4trees (Aug 11, 2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j36V8dchcqE

Some discourse on how to handle a customer that wants a very large limb removed for light on her garden..


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## tree MDS (Aug 11, 2010)

You know murph, I have to give you credit for trying that (leaving the stub). I have thought about trying that a couple of times, but then I think "what if some other tree service sees it and thinks I'm a hack". Also, I just feels so wrong after all the years of no stub dogma.

I find I can take you much more seriously without the mullet too!


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## treemandan (Aug 11, 2010)

Who are you yapping at? Seriously, my God.


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## treeclimber101 (Aug 11, 2010)

Good Job Murph that was a good compromise You did the right thing by trying to please her and your right someone was gonna cut it why not make it work somehow ...


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## murphy4trees (Aug 28, 2010)

I learned this approach to handling large limb removals at the customer's insistence, after hearing Guy Meilleur give a talk about correcting storm damaged trees.. I thought.. well.. what's the difference between a storm tearing a big limb in half and the customer insisting that the limb be removed to let light into the garden... NOT MUCH to the tree.. if its better to leave a stub on a storm damaged limb, and the customer will allow the limb she wants removed to be left at 10-15', then why not leave the limb as we would do if it was storm damaged.. 

That tree will never "callous over" a 12" cut, even if made at the lateral that is 1/3 diameter of the parent stem.. NEVER.. and also note that "callousing over" does not stop decay.. And a cut at the trunk of that size would shorten the life of that tree by 20-50 years or more.. as well as create an imminemt hazard..

So I'll keep an eye on the tree..

Guy Meilleur goes by "treeseer" here and on other forums.. he's a board certified master arborist (one of the first to revieve that title), consulting arborist, as well as author of numerous articles, and is frequently asked to present at the ISA international symposium, etc..

Here is Guy's respopnse to the video:

Mr. Murphy,

Thank you so much for sharing your excellent work. I am humbled and gratified that you cite my work as support for your tree preservation strategy. For all the unpaid hours I have spent on reviving Shigo et al's work on nodal pruning, seeing your work and hearing your approach makes it all worthwhile.

It looked from the appearance of previous laterals that were shed at that node--that "imperfection" a sign of bundles of buds and other stem cell tissue, aka "concentrations of vitality" as ISA President Colin Bashford calls these nodes-- that you found a good target. Whether or not those buds release is in part a function of how much light they get. It seems from your video that morning sun will hit it. Sometimes I thin/reduce above those cuts per need to let more light in.

Please keep me up to date on the tree's response. I await pics of sprouts like a child awaits Christmas!

Guy Philip Meilleur
ISA Board-Certified Master Arborist #SO-0284BMUT
ISA Certified Tree Worker & Utility & Municipal Specialist 
Better Tree Care Associates


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## flushcut (Aug 29, 2010)

I thouhgt it was a nice conservation effort and I too would like to see the restults in the future as well. So "IF" it does not strout are you going back to take it back to the smaller lateral or ? 

I hate it when I get calls to cut major limbs off the neighbors trees. "I want everything above the property line cut off. That SOB doesn't do anything with his yard!" 
I think compromise is in everbodys best interest and more so the trees.


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## murphy4trees (Aug 29, 2010)

if it does not sprout out, which I think it will, and may have already, I will wait until the new wood clearly forms a collar beyond the lateral, which may be a couple of years, and then remove the deadwood portion carefully, cutting beyond the live tissue. 

Either way that limb is going to decay.. we are just buying it time.. 

By the time we see the results of this little experience, who knows, I could be living in a condo in Boca..


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## murphy4trees (Apr 24, 2012)

i went back to the property today and now, nearly two years later the stub has put out two little clumps of new shoots, maybe 1' tall. don't remember seeing them last year, but maybe i misses it... think they are new this spring... made me happy.. got pics to post later


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## flushcut (Apr 24, 2012)

Cool good to hear!


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