Pruning Sealer

[PTS]

I have a customer that has several oaks that have to be pruned for a construction project and build. They have expressed concern for oak wilt. They also requested that I seal the cut. I explained the whole sealing asphalt thing to them and they were understanding. I have seen an all natural pruning sealer that contains no asphalt and is "safe" for trees. However I know nothing about the product and now I can't even find it anymore. Does anyone know of any and do you have an opinion on the stuff. I'm just trying to gather some info.

Thanks,

Kyle

 

[Tree Wizard]

You may be thinking of Lac Balsam. This is a German product that is on the order of a grafting wax. We use it to cover cuts on Oaks & Elms when we have to prune (storm damage, construction, etc) during the growing season. I haven't seen it in any catalogs for years. It came in both tubes and pails. We bought what we thought was a 10 yr supply 8 years ago from some place in NY - down to 2 tubes. You could probably Google it.

 

[stumpy66]

in the Uk we have moved away from sealing the cut, we use CODIT and cut accordingly....tree should defend itself and good cutting will aid that...

 

[Tree Machine]

Yea, in a perfect biological world in an ideal scenario, that is what happens, we prune correctly and the tree compartmentalizes.

But where I come from, (earth) there are fungi that attack wood, or and an array of successive little critters that love to consume the fungus that decays the wood, and take up housing there.

I see wounds from 'proper pruning' that turn into abscesses that turn into cavities that turn into hollows. My question is, am I the only one who sees this in trees, or is it all over the world?

Compartmentalization is a convenient way for us humans to relate to each other on what is happening in wound biology. However, the fungus creating these defects doesn't know of this thing we call compartmentalization, nor does the tree. Depending on the species of tree, some are better compartmentalizers than others, meaning they are less prone to invasion by fungus. Is this the density of the wood, the speed of callus formation or something chemical within the tree? Possibly all these play a role, as well as others unmentioned.

Everybody's so hung up on doing nothing, just prune properly and leave it alone. Because research has shown that tar and paint don't do squat, the concensus has turned to 'do nothing'. Prune properly and leave it alone.

The concensus needs to know that treemen before me have properly pruned thousands of my area trees and I have thousands of abscesses, cavities and hollows which assures me a secure future in arboriculture. I should be glad. But the 'do nothing' approach is just the same as saying, "Let the tree and the fungus battle it out. I've done my part."

I'm not judging this aproach as right or wrong, just spelling out that holding to our collective mindsets that 'doing nothing' is the best we can do will keep giving us abscesses, turning into cavities, progressing into hollows and decay columns and ultimately failure of the limb, stem, trunk or entire tree. It is, after all, the result we're getting. I'm remarkably sure we all see the same thing. It's the same biology, different trees in different places, but the same relationships that have been going on for millions of years.

I, myself, prune properly and do nothing more. However, I'm not satisfied in believing that nothing more of benefit could be done.

 

[Sirpouralot]

Yea, in a perfect biological world in an ideal scenario, that is what happens, we prune correctly and the tree compartmentalizes.

But where I come from, (earth) there are fungi that attack wood, or and an array of successive little critters that love to consume the fungus that decays the wood, and take up housing there.

I see wounds from 'proper pruning' that turn into abscesses that turn into cavities that turn into hollows. My question is, am I the only one who sees this in trees, or is it all over the world?

Compartmentalization is a convenient way for us humans to relate to each other on what is happening in wound biology. However, the fungus creating these defects doesn't know of this thing we call compartmentalization, nor does the tree. Depending on the species of tree, some are better compartmentalizers than others, meaning they are less prone to invasion by fungus. Is this the density of the wood, the speed of callus formation or something chemical within the tree? Possibly all these play a role, as well as others unmentioned.

Everybody's so hung up on doing nothing, just prune properly and leave it alone. Because research has shown that tar and paint don't do squat, the concensus has turned to 'do nothing'. Prune properly and leave it alone.

The concensus needs to know that treemen before me have properly pruned thousands of my area trees and I have thousands of abscesses, cavities and hollows which assures me a secure future in arboriculture. I should be glad. But the 'do nothing' approach is just the same as saying, "Let the tree and the fungus battle it out. I've done my part."

I'm not judging this aproach as right or wrong, just spelling out that holding to our collective mindsets that 'doing nothing' is the best we can do will keep giving us abscesses, turning into cavities, progressing into hollows and decay columns and ultimately failure of the limb, stem, trunk or entire tree. It is, after all, the result we're getting. I'm remarkably sure we all see the same thing. It's the same biology, different trees in different places, but the same relationships that have been going on for millions of years.

I, myself, prune properly and do nothing more. However, I'm not satisfied in believing that nothing more of benefit could be done.

Excellent post.
Your reasoning shows depth of logic and careful thought.
When I was much younger, we used to paint everything. and this made us feel all warm and good inside, as we thought we were doing something beneficial to help the tree heal. We also thought that perhaps sealing the cut with something topical would help prevent infection. Many studies now done have been conclusive that we were wrong, and the practice in our industry of sealing the wound after the cut should be abandoned. You raise an interesting question though, is that true in all cases?

The original poster is also wondering the same question. His clients want him to prune healthy Oak trees at a time of year that it might expose them to the risk of deadly "Oak Wilt" virus. Would putting some kind of sealer on the cut mask the scent so that picnic beetles would not see this tree any more attractive than neighboring trees? I have pondered this question myself.

I have not seen any studies done on this subject that would give a definitive answer. Picnic beetles don't have to rely on a wound of a tree in order to infest it. Putting a sealer on the tree as already stated would likely just slow the healing process down and may even seal in other bacterial agents that would have otherwise been dried up with direct sun light, had the wound been left alone.

Even so, I have elected to seal the wound when a client insisted on pruning an Oak during the danger zone. The reason, is that it makes our clients feel better. Our client is a human being who is paying us to work on there tree. Have you ever seen a doctor give a placebo or a cream to a patient just because it makes them feel like something was done for them.

After informing our clients the best practice for the health and vigor of the tree, there is still room to compromise at times and remember that both the tree and the customer our are patient.

 

[BIG JAKE]

Bar contamination?

Yea, in a perfect biological world in an ideal scenario, that is what happens, we prune correctly and the tree compartmentalizes.

But where I come from, (earth) there are fungi that attack wood, or and an array of successive little critters that love to consume the fungus that decays the wood, and take up housing there.

I see wounds from 'proper pruning' that turn into abscesses that turn into cavities that turn into hollows. My question is, am I the only one who sees this in trees, or is it all over the world?

Compartmentalization is a convenient way for us humans to relate to each other on what is happening in wound biology. However, the fungus creating these defects doesn't know of this thing we call compartmentalization, nor does the tree. Depending on the species of tree, some are better compartmentalizers than others, meaning they are less prone to invasion by fungus. Is this the density of the wood, the speed of callus formation or something chemical within the tree? Possibly all these play a role, as well as others unmentioned.

Everybody's so hung up on doing nothing, just prune properly and leave it alone. Because research has shown that tar and paint don't do squat, the concensus has turned to 'do nothing'. Prune properly and leave it alone.

The concensus needs to know that treemen before me have properly pruned thousands of my area trees and I have thousands of abscesses, cavities and hollows which assures me a secure future in arboriculture. I should be glad. But the 'do nothing' approach is just the same as saying, "Let the tree and the fungus battle it out. I've done my part."

I'm not judging this aproach as right or wrong, just spelling out that holding to our collective mindsets that 'doing nothing' is the best we can do will keep giving us abscesses, turning into cavities, progressing into hollows and decay columns and ultimately failure of the limb, stem, trunk or entire tree. It is, after all, the result we're getting. I'm remarkably sure we all see the same thing. It's the same biology, different trees in different places, but the same relationships that have been going on for millions of years.

I, myself, prune properly and do nothing more. However, I'm not satisfied in believing that nothing more of benefit could be done.

Tree I'm not in the business I'll say that up front. But let's say I cut dead and sick trees all the time. If I don't decontaminate the bar and chain everytime would I not be potentially carrying those fungi and diseases from tree to tree? Would there be any benifit to cleaning a bar and soaking a chain in alcohol or something to mitigate this?

 

[Bermie]

I used to think I should disinfect my tools all the time, but lets think about it, fungal spores are in the air all around us all the time, the chances are that not long after you make a cut, SOMETHING has landed on the cut surface.
With all the oil and goop on your saw, short of stripping it and soaking each bit in bleach or something, you're not going to be able to kill all the nasties.
Best to place the cuts properly and give the tree all the chance of defending itself using its own built in defensive properties. Most of the time it will, sometimes it won't. Only those very specific examples such as oak wilt justify talk of sealing wounds. If you know you've been cutting something really nasty, then disinfecting might work. Over here we have a virus in the citrus trees, I will disinfect my tools after working on them, but thats the only time.
In general proper practices are sufficient, sometimes infection & decay happens, that's life, sometimes we have to take extra care and defend against a KNOWN pathogen or vector.
Trees are amazing organisms.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Minisota did a study a few years back on painting wounds on oaks, they found that there was a statisicly significant lower incident of infections in treated trees. the assumption was that the insect vectors did not find the wounds as readily.

I remember an anicdotal statememnt a from aorund the same time were a fly was seen to move back and forth between fungal mats and a fresh cut sapping out.

Interestingly too they found that trees pruned in late summer had a lower rate then dormant prunes too. dry season? vector inactivity???

 

[nitwit dolt]

Lac Balsam is great stuff. I used to get it from Shelter Tree here in Mass. Not sure if he still carries it. I wanna say www.sheltertree.com .

 

[BIG JAKE]

tree importance

I used to think I should disinfect my tools all the time, but lets think about it, fungal spores are in the air all around us all the time, the chances are that not long after you make a cut, SOMETHING has landed on the cut surface.
With all the oil and goop on your saw, short of stripping it and soaking each bit in bleach or something, you're not going to be able to kill all the nasties.
Best to place the cuts properly and give the tree all the chance of defending itself using its own built in defensive properties. Most of the time it will, sometimes it won't. Only those very specific examples such as oak wilt justify talk of sealing wounds. If you know you've been cutting something really nasty, then disinfecting might work. Over here we have a virus in the citrus trees, I will disinfect my tools after working on them, but thats the only time.
In general proper practices are sufficient, sometimes infection & decay happens, that's life, sometimes we have to take extra care and defend against a KNOWN pathogen or vector.
Trees are amazing organisms.

If I was going from a diseased tree say oak to same species in my yard I'd definitely decon the saw first. Same with a tree of real importance to someone else that had a 3 generation swing in it etc. Might do it anyway. But again what's practical and makes sense/common sense. Would be a hassle to do that all the time. Swap bars maybe. Interesting concept though. All trees are valuable but some more than others.

 

[Bermie]

I've got to be a bit careful here, we don't have the kind of major tree killing nasties you all seem to have in the States and UK, there is a fungus that's hitting coconut palms and the citrus virus, but that's about it for really bad stuff, and I would clean my kit after working on them. You all are dealing with some potentially fatal P&D that can kill really big trees, so of course if there is a way to minimise the potential of transmitting it, given what you know then thats what you need to do.