That moment when you realize everyone's been pruning oaks wrong in the spring

I was helping a buddy trim some big oaks out in Riverside last April (his crew was booked solid) and noticed they were cutting live branches left and right. I mentioned something about oak wilt season and he just shrugged it off. Fast forward to today and I'm driving past that same property seeing brown leaves on half the canopy, it's really rough to look at. I know we all get busy but I keep seeing homeowners and even some tree services doing major pruning from March through June when the sap is flowing and beetles are active. It's like the one rule I was taught 10 years ago that actually sticks with me: if it's an oak and it's growing, wait until November. Has anyone else had to clean up someone else's oak wilt mess or am I the only one who's gotten calls for this?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowan21mo ago

Holy crap, you're not kidding. I saw a house a few streets over from me last May, some company was up in a bucket truck just butchering a massive red oak in full leaf. I wanted to yell at them but I couldn't find the foreman's number. Now that tree looks half dead and the owner is probably stuck with a bill and a dying tree. It's wild how many people just ignore the most basic rule.

hayden_butler271mo ago

Used to think spring pruning was fine. That sight changed my mind completely.

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