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Three years of pruning one oak finally paid off
I've been working on this massive red oak in a client's yard since 2021, just taking a few limbs each season to open up the crown. Yesterday the owner sent me a pic from the same angle as the before shot, and you can actually see the lawn underneath now instead of a dark cave. Anyone else find that slow and steady approach beats taking too much at once?
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thomas2911mo ago
Didn't the folks over at the arboretum say that red oaks are actually fine for light summer pruning as long as you avoid the major sap flow months? I heard that from a guy who used to work for the city forestry department, and he claimed the whole "never touch an oak in summer" thing is more of a guideline for live oaks in warmer climates where the beetles are active. You got three years of results showing the tree is healthy and the lawn is getting light now, so seems like your timing worked out just fine. People get too hung up on hard rules when every tree and every yard is different. Your slow approach let the tree adjust bit by bit instead of shocking it all at once, which is exactly what the old timers always preached.
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Opened up the crown" is pruning talk, but oaks shouldn't be pruned in 2021 during the growing season.
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