Had a guy in Spokane tell me my pruning cuts looked like a beaver got to them

He was a retired logger who walked right up while I was deadheading a maple and said that with a straight face. Made me rethink my stub cut technique ever since. Any of you ever get roasted by a random passerby that actually knew their stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

kim_davis2d ago

You ever had someone just nail you like that out of nowhere? I had a lady in Portland walk by while I was pruning a crabapple and she said my branch collar cuts looked like I was trying to start a fire with the stubs. That one stuck with me too. I started paying way more attention to how clean my cuts were after that, making sure I cut at the right angle and not leaving a nub. It turns out she was right, my trees healed way faster once I adjusted my technique.

brooke4482d ago

Oh man, that story hits different because it reminds me of a buddy of mine... he was out trimming his maple tree in the front yard and this old guy walking his dog just stops and says "son, you're gonna kill that tree with those cuts." My friend laughed it off at first, thought the guy was just some crazy old timer. But then he looked closer and realized the bark was starting to peel back from his cuts... he Googled it later and felt like an idiot. He told me it took him a whole weekend to fix the mess he made, had to clean up all those stubs and re-cut everything right. Now he's the guy who walks around other people's yards judging their pruning jobs I swear...

kelly_rivera1d ago

Three stubs on a maple tree aren't gonna kill it, and peeling bark happens from weather too. Sounds to me like that old guy just got in your friend's head for no real reason.