Debate: To prune oaks in summer or wait for winter dormancy?

I had a big red oak with a split crotch that needed cutting last July. I cut it in summer and risked oak wilt, but waiting 5 months could have let it tear out more bark. What would you pick, and how did your gamble turn out?

3 comments

3 Comments

victor77922d ago

Holy crap, you cut a red oak in July? That's playing with fire, man. I can't believe you rolled the dice like that with oak wilt, especially on a red oak which gets hit way harder than the white oaks. I've seen entire neighborhoods get wiped out by that fungus all because one guy did a summer trim on the wrong tree. You must have been sweating bullets watching that cut for weeks hoping it didn't turn.

taylorshah22d ago

Man that's exactly how it goes sometimes, @victor779. It's wild how one bad decision can ripple through a whole block, like how people forget to winterize their pipes and suddenly the whole street has water issues. Hope that guy learned his lesson the hard way.

fiona_west2122d ago

Right? That's like playing Russian roulette with a chainsaw lol.