Just realized I was pruning young oaks all wrong

I was talking to a county extension agent last week at a tree workshop in Des Moines and he pointed out that my cuts on a 3 year old bur oak were too flush to the trunk. He said leaving the collar intact lets the tree seal faster and keeps decay from setting in early. Has anyone else had to adjust their cuts after years of doing it the same way?

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1 Comment

iris_jones891mo ago

Leaving the collar intact" sounds like my new excuse for every bad haircut I've ever given a tree. Seriously, I spent ten years making flush cuts on my maples like I was some kind of tree surgeon. Now I'm out there with a handsaw, apologizing to a silver maple for all the stub collars I hacked off back in '09. Makes you wonder what other basic stuff we've been getting away with for decades.