How to Prune a Tree the Wrong Way

I want to say a little bit about a personal pet peeve of mine, and I have spent quite a bit of emotional energy thinking of how to say it. It sometimes seems impossible to get this message across to people, especially when they cannot see the big picture, so I thought I would present it in a "Mission Impossible" sort of motif:

Your mission for today? Destroy something that it took you and nature years of cooperation to produce! We will accomplish this by the following means:

Take the top out of that tree. Great Idea! Let's just whack of the top, wherever we like, and leave it open for disease, that will cause the limbs to die back to a healthy branch, and let water seep in, to rot it. Then there will be a new flush of young, poorly arranged, badly connected shoots, to invite in more disease and fungus.

A slower death can be brought about by a more subtle approach: When thinning the limbs, don't cut back to a lateral branch, just leave a few inches sticking out to rot and prevent healing. As this nub slowly rots away, we can invite more water, and disease into the main part of the adjoining limb, causing it to eventually rot, causing the next limb to rot.........

When we prune, make sure we allow the bark to be pulled away from the area around the cut. This will stop the flow of nutrients to the area, drying it out, and then allowing more more water to settle in pockets inside the bark. This is another great way to invite in disease.

If we happen to accidentally make a proper cut in the proper place, don't worry, just spray on some petroleum based products, to keep it from healing or callousing over. The best product for this is a cleverly miss-named product known as pruning paint. Well, I think you get the picture. I have worked in this industry for many years, and it still amazes me. I see it all the time, being done by "professionals" who should know better. The odd thing to me is that it is self evident, and yet, people persist in doing it. All that needs to be done to prove my thesis, is to look at the results!

In an upcoming article, I will describe the proper way to prune to avoid these problems and give you a safe, healthy tree.

James Burns is a licensed pest control professional, has been a Certified Professional Turfgrass Manager for more than 16 years, has a lifetime of experience in horticulture and agriculture, and is the owner of Rational Environmental Solutions, an IPM based pest control company in East Texas. He also has many helpful gardening tips at http://www.texpest.com.

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How To Prune A Tree The Wrong Way:

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