My neighbor insisted I was pruning my maple tree wrong for 3 years

Old Mr. Henderson next door used to tell me every spring that I was cutting branches too close to the trunk. Said I was leaving stubs that would rot. I ignored him because he's 80 and I figured he was just set in his ways. Turns out, he was spot on. Last month a big limb split right at one of my old cuts during a storm. Had to pay a guy $400 to come clean it up properly. Now I go over and ask his advice before I touch anything with a saw. Anyone else have a neighbor who turned out to know way more than you gave them credit for?

2 comments

2 Comments

thea7041mo ago

Learned that one the hard way too. Old timers usually know their stuff when it comes to trees, they've seen what happens when you cut wrong. Now I just nod and listen whenever my neighbor talks about pruning.

cameron_webb1mo ago

Sort of true but not really. The stubs can rot but that's actually not what causes limbs to fail later, it's usually leaving the collar intact or cutting flush to the trunk that messes things up.