Customer vs. Oak Wilt

[Husky288XP]

I have a customer who wants to remove a few 4-6" branches for clearance purposes. I told the client to wait and we could return at a later date in winter to preform the work. But, the customer insisted that we do the job.
I was thinking of doing the job and painting the wounds after each cut, but my gut tells me no.

I am not going to do the job, but what would you do? Would you remove the few branches, paint the wounds, and leave the liablity to the customer? OR Simply not take the job.

 

[treeseer]

How severe is oak wilt in PA?

How effective is paint against infection?

 

[Jim1NZ]

In New Zealand, where we dont have the pest and disease you have, the work would be done.

BUT i would NEVER paint the wounds. This simply slows the process of CODIT. If the collar cut is preformed correctly, there should be no problem.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

If you make the cut during the "no prune" time of year and the tree gets OW you better hope that you have enough insurance. You're going to pay for the loss. Doing work that is contrary to industry standards will come back to bite you.

Paint has been shown to have some good blocking of the airborne fungi. A light coating of latex is the best. With some searching you can find latex in a spray can. In Minnesota the only time we would prune/paint oaks is if there is storm damage or emergency work.

Would your client allow a body shop to paint over rust? What if the dentist didn't get all of the decay out before putting in the filling?

 

[Jim1NZ]

If the cuts are small <4" and the tree is healthy, the wound will compartmentalize in 1-3 years before it starts to decay, in my area anyway. Airborne fungal spores will be on the wound before the paint is even applied, within a minute.

Sounds like the paint company is doing their own research...

 

[kf_tree]

If you make the cut during the "no prune" time of year and the tree gets OW you better hope that you have enough insurance. You're going to pay for the loss. Doing work that is contrary to industry standards will come back to bite you.

Paint has been shown to have some good blocking of the airborne fungi. A light coating of latex is the best. With some searching you can find latex in a spray can. In Minnesota the only time we would prune/paint oaks is if there is storm damage or emergency work.

Would your client allow a body shop to paint over rust? What if the dentist didn't get all of the decay out before putting in the filling?

tom

do you have example's of law suits in case's like this? i think what you do is very admirable. someone has to try and set the "higher or correct" standard.

but lets look at the reality of this case....husky 288 warns the customer of tree decline if the cuts are made this time of year and refuse's to do the work. but the customer wants them cut so his pool gets more sun. so he calls someone out of the book and hires the guy. well he spikes his way up there stubbing a few branch's back and leaving rip cuts on the other. the customer is happy because he now has sun on his pool.

so which is better husky288 doing a spikeless prune with perfect cuts or the guy out of the yellow page ad? yes, in the ideal world no one would prune the tree unless it's the right time of year. but we do not live in an ideal world. you can live by your own standards , but not everyone will follow the example.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I thin we need to apply a dose of common sense here.
The two most likely way for man to vector OW is with tools and leaving wounds that are attractive to insects. If you sanitize the tools and paint the wound I would say it is very unlikely the trimming will cause OW.
Although there are other possible vectors, like wind or squirrels, it seems unlikely.
If small wounds were likely entry points for the fungus, which I don't believe, we would see much more wilt than we do. If you've ever climbed an oak during the spring, you will have seen multiple small injuries from squirrels, wind, rubbing limbs, fallen deadwood, and other things. The wounds need to be big enough to attract the nititulides that likely vector the fungus.
If you are taking off lower limbs, and it can be done so as not to break other little branches in the process, I say go for it, assuming clean tools and paint are used. Better you than some fool who doesn't take any precautions.

While we are talking about paint, I don't see the evil effects of pruning paint that others do. The idea is to make the wound less attractive to the insects. A good oil base paint will work better than some latex, at least I would think. Even the paint studies only showed paint didn't speed healing, they didn't show damage from paint. I will often use paint to cover big white eyes, and back in the day, when it was considered needed, used to use quite a bit of paint. I never saw any negative effects.

 

[Mike Barcaskey]

Husky, the forester at the Penn State Co-Op extension office in Mercer County told me it's OK to prunes white oaks anytime. Red oaks need to be done after November to avoid Oak Wilt. now this is western PA, if you're out east, it might be different.
BTW the word from Penn State is no paint/coatings

 

[iain]

if in doubt walk away m8,
( i'm not up on your legislation, we got far to much of our own !! i' d play safe, its not worth the adverse reputation, hassle
as the proffesional, actions you take will be deemed to be with taken with full knowledge, regardless of the clients wishes
over in the uk we have protection on a lot of our better tree stock and to knowingly damage £5,000 gbp destroy protected tree £20,000 gbp

 

[Eagle1]

don't do it. I am sure you don't need that small of of job this time of year anyway.

 

[geofore]

Sod

Check this site out www.suddenoakdeath.org There was an article in the news a week or so back about thousands of ornimentals being shipped from out west to the eastern market a few years back. Some of the plants were infected. They were shipped to 23 different states. Camellias and rhododendrons were carriers.

 

[tophopper]

Good grief- just do the work and paint the cuts- The tree owner is obviously going to have it done by somebody, may as well be by someone who actually knows what they're doing.

I believe any sized wound is a likely entrance point for the fungus, Ive seen many of fried Red Oaks, that had gotten infected because some moron gaffed up em in high stress areas. They even used paint on the cuts, kinda pointless when you leave 60 or so gaff marks up the trunk.
I sometimes wonder how some of you ever got any work done before the existance of the internet and AS.

 

[Eagle1]

Yea...before AS we all had are heads up are ____es.
Thank God for the internet and AS

PS anyone who uses gaffs to prune should not even be allowed to post on this site, yet be allow to breath.

As for "just do it, or somebady will" I like to look at myself in the mirror and think that I would not horr for money :blob6:

 

[tophopper]

Whatever dude,
doing the work is not whoring for money, its doing it as proper as can be, given the circumstances.
Heads up arses?..................... you said it, not me!

 

[tophopper]

anyone who uses gaffs to prune should not even be allowed to post on this site, yet be allow to breath.

A little extreme?
You've NEVER gaffed a tree?

 

[Eagle1]

my "extreme" comment had a little, bouncing, happy avitar next to it so I would imagine that it was an extreme joke.

No, I never gaffed up a tree that I was not removing.

As for my comments on this post, they are my opinion. Some arborists will do whatever to make money, that is fine. Some arborists gaff up trees for pruning, that is fine. But, I like to do things the right way and the way I was taught, thats fine.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

It is good to be cautious with Oaks, in Oak Wilt areas. But that does not mean you cannot safely remove limbs during the spring.
Eagle, I don't think you're in a Wilt area, and maybe you don't have the hands on experience dealing with it.
If I had to trim one of my Oaks right now, I'd have no problem cleaning my tools, carefully trimming, and painting immediately.

Also, just because it is a White Oak, does not mean it's ok to prune in spring! White Oaks are susceptible to Wilt too!

 

[Eagle1]

mike , you are right. I don't have that problem here or do I have experience with it.

 

[texasnative]

I would inform the customer that painting tree wounds is contrary to industry standards and that it does more harm than good. Explain to them about the increased risks of fungal infection (showing them photos of examples will almost always get them to change their mind about painting wounds). If he or she still insists on using it, I would say ok, but I would also absolve myself of any responsibility for causing damage to the tree.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

texasnative,

Painting wounds to reduce infections isn't contrary to industry standards.There is some controversy about the effectiveness I agree. Painting to reduce decay is another matter.

There are many issues that need to be balanced. I believe that a good salesperson would be able to show the client the risks involved with pruning during oak wilt season. If I were to ever trim during the OW season I would have a descriptive letter written up with an attorney to indemnify me from any future damages. Don't ever rely on the customer remembering that you explained the risks.