When is it safe to trim oak trees
Oak Tree Trimming Guide
hello I'm RJ Laverne with the Davy tree
expert company and today we're going to
be talking about properly pruning this
oak tree
now pruning an oak tree is not really
much different than pruning a maple tree
or a birch tree or most other trees that
have leaves but there's a few simple
rules to follow that will give us the
proper pruning cut and allow this tree
to live happily ever after but before we
get into putting saws to wood let's talk
a little bit about safety today since
I'm going to be working underneath the
canopy of a tree I'm going to wear my
hard hat that's in case anything drops
off I won't get clocked on the noggin
and I'll be able to work safely next I'm
going to wear my safety glasses this is
very important especially when you're
using the saw chips of wood fly out
pieces of bark will fly at you and
wearing good safety glasses will protect
your eyes and next you'll notice that
I'm working today with a good sturdy
pair of leather gloves I'm going to be
using a handsaw today and it's quite
sharp we need it to be sharp in order to
make the proper cuts but one accidental
pull across my skin could turn an
otherwise productive day into an
unfortunate trip to the emergency room
so whenever you're making good cuts make
sure that you're wearing the proper
protective equipment you'll also notice
that I am not using a chainsaw
today the branch that I'm removing is
only about an inch and 3/4 thick there's
no need for power tools today and even
if this were a larger branch I certainly
would not use a chainsaw to cut over my
shoulders so all of the cuts today we're
going to use a handsaw if you encounter
on your oak tree a larger branch that
needs to be removed or a branch the tire
up in the tree crown make sure that you
call a qualified professional arborist
and they'll safely do the pruning for
you there's a couple of features that
we're going to look for on this tree
that will help us decide
where we want to make the pruning cut on
the top of this branch and this is the
branch that we'll be removing on the top
of this branch is a saddle of bark and
you can see it from either side of the
branch attachment and that's called the
branch bark Ridge that is the area where
the bark from the trunk and the bark
from the branch meet and the bark layers
are being pushed up and outside of that
branch Union we're going to use that to
help us locate the cut you'll also
notice that at the base of this branch
there's a swollen area that's the area
where the wood tissue from the trunk
overlaps with the wood tissue from the
branch now we don't want to cut into the
wood tissue from the trunk because it's
going to be that wood tissue that grows
new wood and covers up the pruning wound
that we're about to make
so our pruning cut will want to be not
flush with the trunk but rather at the
base of the branch and outside of this
swollen area that's the branch collar
and that's the line that we'll use to
make our pruning cut now I could take my
pruning saw and just start to cut in
that area and make one cut but chances
are the weight of the foliage on this
limb would tear the bark off when I got
about 3/4 of the way through my cut and
that would leave damage to the trunk
that's unnecessary so instead of doing
that we're going to use a 3 cut system
that will first relieve the weight from
the branch and then we'll take off the
remaining branch stub without doing
excessive damage to the trunk first I
will make a cut on the underside of the
branch about a quarter of the distance
through that's going to relieve the
compression tension on the bottom of
this branch next I'll make a cut from
the top side of the branch and that will
remove the hanging branch and remove the
weight
okay find the branch bark Ridge and make
sure my final cut is outside of those
two features so let's go ahead and make
that cut now and as I get to the bottom
I'm going to work my way slowly and make
sure that I've got the perfect clean cut
and there we go
as you can see it's a nice clean cut
outside of the branch collar and in two
or three years that wound will be closed
over by the new wood tissue formed by
the trunk
that's about as difficult as it gets to
pruning this oak tree don't forget where
the proper protective equipment use the
three step approach to making your final
cut and work safe every time thanks for
joining us today we'll see you next time
you
