Primitive people or modern monkeys? Come to Go Valle Park in Austin on May 28, 29 and 30 to find out for yourself.
Seriously, the best tree workers from around the state will be gathering to share climbing techniques and see how their skills match up. The winner of this chapter events wins a slew of prizes included a paid trip to the international competition being help in Rhode Island this year.This is one the the biggest events of the year for the Texas chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). The ISA is the organization responsible for certifying arborists.
The competition is made up of 5 preliminary events that test a climbers skills at speed climbing (2 events), work climbing, throw-line and aerial rescue. The top 5 qualifiers from the preliminary rounds compete in the “Master’s Challenge” for the title of Texas Tree Climbing Champion.
On Thursday, prior the the competition there will be an aerial rescue work shop for all arborist to brush up on their rescue skills and techniques. CEU’s will be available for certified arborists.
Visit the ISATexas.com for more information and a registration brochure.
Creative tree trimming, the rules don’t always apply.
Most guidelines for tree pruning are built around the idea that all trees already have good health/structural-integrity and have good growing conditions. Well, let me tell you this is not normally the case. Many tree trimming calls I go on here in Austin, Texas require creative techniques to help the tree fit inside its urban environment. The main topic I really want to discuss here is tree topping.
The standard rule for this is don’t do it. Tree topping is usually not a good tree trimming technique. We’re talking about cutting the ends off the branches of the tree. I’m 100% positive that trees don’t grow limbs so we can have something to cut, and I’m 100% positive that the leaves on the ends of those branches are making food for the tree. But, there are some situations where the tree topping technique can be used in an appropriate manner. Let’s look at “vista pruning.” Literally translated as view pruning, the goal of this is to improve a scenic view. You’d have to live in the hill country to understand this. Many people will spend half of their life-savings for a beautiful house on the side of the tallest hill over looking a beautiful canyon, and within a few years the backyard trees have grown up and block the entire view. Can we cut the tops of the branches down in height without ruining the tree?
Let me give you one little factoid about the native trees living on the hill country slopes: their average life expectancy is about 40 years. Trees growing on the side of steep rocky slopes have difficult time rooting solidly. I would argue that pruning the top of a tree down in height accomplishes two things here. One, by reducing the height of the tree you are reducing its over all weight, and, therefore, reducing gravity’s efforts to pull it down the hillside. Secondly, maintaining limited canopy size reduces strain on the root system to find water and nutrients, two commodities in short supply on the side of a hill. I do believe that you can functionally maintain the height of a tree on a hillside to improve your view.
Please don’t take this too far. I’m not advocating that all trees on hill sides be topped. I’m just saying that it can be done in a manner that would allow the tree to live its normal life expectancy. If you are going to do some vista-pruning, do so cautiously; leave as much foliage on the tree as possible.
For info on proper pruning techniques, please see my tree trimming series.
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This may seem like a simple question, but it is not. Here’s the “X” factor that makes it hard to know if your tree is sick: trees have energy reserves. This means that when something afflicts your tree, the tree is going to fight a good battle without you ever knowing it. But, there are some subtle signs to look for. Here are the secrets you need to know.
Let’s start with the leaves; that’s the only thing most people take notice of anyway. The first thing to look for is color. Ninety nine percent of tree species are supposed to have a very dark, rich-green colored leaf. If the leaves aren’t green, they’re usually some shade of yellow-green or brown. Obviously brown is bad, this is serious. However, yellow is serious, too (often the precursor to brown). The “yellowing leaves” condition is generally refered to as chlorosis (klor-osis), which can be caused by many things. The next leaf characteristic to look for is leaf size. One of the first symptoms of many tree disorders / stresses is for the tree to shrink leaf size. This symptom can be trick for non-arborists. Healthy leave size varies from species to species and even from location to location. For example, a live oak located near lake Austin should have leaves about 2” long, whereas, live oaks in the rocky slopes of the hill country should have leaves about 1 ¼” long. The last leaf characteristic to look for is leaf shape. Again, this one can be tricky for non-arborist because you’ll need to know what the leaves are supposed to look like.
The other place to look, besides the leaves, is at the ground. Very often trees main problems are that we have damaged their roots or rooting environment. Cutting roots, compacting soil and filling soil around tree trunks are the most common injuries. Most of the time these activites are related to some sort of construction activity. I doesn’t take much; 75% of tree roots are in the top 12 inches of soil, and they do extend all the way to the surface.
Determining if your tree is sick or stressed is just phase one. You’ll then need to make a proper diagnosis so that a comprehensive treatment program can be implemented. It’s always a good idead to hire an arborist if you really have a sick tree. Reading about something isn’t replacement for field experience. If you can’t afford to hire a tree guy for their service to provide treatments, caughing up $150 for a consulting fee will save you great amounts of time, money and frustration in the long run.
Let’s face it. Tree health care isn’t on the same level as your primary care physician. Skipping past the fact that it would be unreasonable to expect technology to be on a similar level, the real issue is that trees’ best interests are usually not the primary consideration in the planning in our shared urban environment. Even still there are some fundamental ideas we can work with to improve any tree’s chances for survival. Proper pruning, applying timely treatments, improving soil environments and regimented monitoring are all tools that arborists have to help fight the fight for our green friends.
Let’s start with pruning. This is the first thing most people think of when they think about helping their trees. As an experienced veteran tree guy, I can tell you that most people get the wrong idea about pruning. With native trees in Austin, like the live oak, pruning is usually done for functional reasons rather than for the tree health. The right idea is to prune the tree in a manner that we can live with it without damaging the tree. Cleaning out deadwood will definitely improve the trees longevity, but cutting off limbs so we can drive under them is not ideal for the tree. Ideal would be moving the road. You can learn more about tree pruning by reading my pruning series here. In general, tree pruning is the least impact factor for improving health for sick trees.
The highest impact approach for seeing quick results is implementing a series of timely treatments. Understand, when I say quick results I mean 1-2 years. There are very few scenarios where we can produce visually noticable improvements for tree disorders in less than a year. Lets look closesly at my statement of “implementing a series of timely treatments.” The most common mistake I see made when attempting to fertilize a tree is that people (even many arborists!?) will pump a bunch of nitrogen in the ground at no specific time of the year and then walk away from the tree as if all its problems are solved. The important thing to know here is that timing is CRITICAL. I like to explain this by comparing trees to grass. Grass maintains a constant state of growth; that’s why it has to be cut once a week. You can put fertilizer on turf at any time and get virtually the same response: greener grass and faster growth. Trees are not the same. Trees go through a cycle of defferent growth stages through out the course of the year. Early in the spring the focus is on foliage growth; virtually all trees are producing an entire canopy of leaves. During the bulk of the “growing season” there is very little growth (percentage wise); this is mostly an energy producing time for trees. As late summer and fall approach the trees’ focus shifts to root growth. Sixty to seventy percent of a tree’s root growth for the year takes place in the fall. So, depending on what time of year it is, the treatment is going to have a different affect on the tree. It is mission critical that you put the right stuff on the tree at the right time of year.
Improving the soil environment is a relatively new technique being used by arborists here in Austin, and a very good one. What I’m talking about here is basically air-tilling the soil and mixing in organic matter. Our native “soils” are heavy clays with very little, if any, organic matter. Mixing in organic matter improves water penetration, aeration and microbe activity among other benefits. The new development that is making this popular is the use of an airspade. In the past there was no good way to till up the soil without destroying the inhabiting roots. An airspade is a high powered air compressor tool that blows apart the clay chunks. This breaks up the soil and doesn’t damage vital tree roots. Although not necessary in every situation, this is an important technique in our arsenal of tools.
Every sick tree is going to be a different scenario. There is not a template you can apply to every tree. The foundation for any successful recovery is diligant monitoring and keeping good notes. My company policy is to keep a map showing the location of every tree on a property and taking a photo(s) and notes on every inspection; 4 times per year as a minimum. The trees condition will be constantly changing.
“When is the best time to prune trees?” This is one of the most common questions I get asked. The truth is there aren’t many timing concerns for tree pruning in the Austin area. Let’s start with the most common mistake I hear people make about when to prune trees in Austin, Texas.
You cannot adapt rules from other climates to Austin. If you go to the north east part of the country there are imporant guidelines. There, the dormant season is long and the trees are much taller. This means that bigger trees have less time to get all their growth cycles done. During the spring and fall months, trees in this area have intense sap flows. Pruning during these times will lead to bleeding wounds which leads to every insect and disease in the book. In Austin we don’t have this problem. Our seasons tend to run together; you can prune any time and not get bleeding wounds. Except with American Elms, these trees will produce bleeding wounds regardless of when you prune them.
The only concerns we have in Austin, Texas for when to prune trees is geared specifically around one tree diesase, oak wilt. There is one beetle know to spread the disease and it is active for only a few weeks during the spring. The timing of activity varies from year to year but it is generally always between March and May. The Texas Forest Service recommends you avoid wounding trees during this time. There adoption of this rule is based on concerns of homeowners capacity to understand and remember intricacies of the disease spread. If you are working with a professional who makes proper cuts and treats wounds, there is no risk of disease in pruning wounds.
In conclusion, the answer of “when to prune trees in Austin, Texas” can be answered by two sentances: If you hire a professional, knowledgeable arborist, you can prune any time. If you are doing the pruning yourself, avoid pruning between March and May.
Identifying what limbs to cut can be one of the most difficult parts of pruning a tree. I discussed the three reason’s why to prune trees in volume 1 of my pruning series: for tree health, cosmetics and structural integrity. However, many times these different reasons would lead you determine that different limbs need to be pruned. Balancing these priorities is where experience and an artistic eye really comes into play. Different people will often come to different conclusions. While weighing your priorities for pruning there are a few general rules you can follow to help error on the side of benefit for the tree.
The first general rule is to always avoid removing large limbs when you can accomplish your goals by removing multiple smaller limbs. Trees do not have an efficient system for healing wounds larger than 3” or 4” in diameter. These larger pruning wounds can take several years to callous over and lead to more extensive decay in the tree. While this is usually not a short term problem for the tree, removing large limbs will chisel years off the tree’s total life expectancy.
Remove any dead limbs. Dead wood is the food source for mother nature’s natural decay fungi. Removing deadwood both removes decay food sources and facilitates wound healing. In the winter months, identifying dead limbs can be tricky. A good arborist can easily tell the difference between a limb with dormant buds and a dead limb. For the average Joe I recommend you do your pruning during the spring and summer months when it is easy to tell which tree branches need to be pruned out.
Pruning soft wooded trees such as ash or pecan to thin the canopy will help improve the tree’s structural integrity. This reduces the overall weight load of the canopy and reduces the wind-sail effect since there will be fewer leaves catching the wind. For an otherwise healthy tree, canopy thinning should remove about 5-10% of the trees total canopy. This should be done by removing many ½” to 1 ½” limbs symmetrically throughout the extremities of the canopy.
These are some basic guidelines. Unhealthy trees, trees with mistletoe and trees in Oak Wilt sensitive areas are complicated even further.
Tree Pruning in Austin is complicated by many factors. There are several subjects that should be examined such as when to prune, what to prune and how to prune. In this article I’m going to focus on why to prune trees and what factors relate specifically to Austin. Health, cosmetics and safety make up the meat of the formula I use to understand why you should prune your trees.
Let’s start with pruning for tree health. Most everybody loves trees; we want them to live long and prosper. Just like your doctor can prescribe you exercises and eating habits that will help you live longer, tree pruning can add to the overall life expectancy of a tree; as long as the pruning is done right. In Austin, we have to worry about Oak Wilt. Pruning your trees properly can reduce your chances of contracting oak wilt, and conversely, failing to take precautions can cause unnecessary exposure to the deadly fungus. Look at my Oak Wilt articles for details on this. Pruning a tree to remove dead limbs helps the tree heal the wound and limits overall stem decay in the tree. The motivating factor to prune your trees isn’t always to improve the health of the tree, sometimes (maybe even most of the time), trees are simply in the way and we need to remove limbs that are too close to the house or in the street. In these scenarios the idea is to prune the tree in a manner that offers the least damage to tree health.
Moving on, the number one reason to not let uncle Bob prune your tree is cosmetics; the amputated-arm-look is not in. And, regardless how good your landscape designer is he can’t recreate a the majesty of well manicured, mature shade tree. Tree pruning is an art mastered only by years of experience. Aside from the aesthetics of a tree, one also has to consider how the tree impacts the surrounding landscape. Pruning may be needed to allow sunlight for the turf, trees may be over-crowded by ambitious landscaping and need to be shaped and thinned, or center piece trees may need sculpting to really set off the look of the landscape. Or, for the true naturalist, tree pruning should be done in a matter that improves the health of the tree without compromising the natural look.
One natural thing about trees that most people over look is that trees naturally fall apart as they age. Pruning is one of the tools you have to help prevent your favorite tree from crashing into your house. Structural integrity might be the most important thing your arborist should be looking for. Most tree pruning guidelines are built around this subject. Usually when you see failed tree, be it from a storm or a random summer afternoon, there is usually some defect that led to the disaster. The best pruners have an eye for included bark and decay. Cabling and bracing are other techniques that can be used in conjunction with pruning to improve the safety of your tree.
I think this subject is sufficiently over-complicated at this point. If you’re the type that chooses to hire professionals to do things for you, you should have enough ammunition to do your interviews. For the do-it-yourself guy/gal keep reading. This is an introduction to the subjects surrounding tree pruning; you have a lot of reading ahead of you. We still need to cover what to prune, how to prune and when to prune.
How to prune trees? The easiest way to prune trees, obviously, is to hire somebody. If your budget or some other factor is preventing this there are a few things you should know to help you on your mission. By now I expect you have read the first three volumes of this 4 volume tree pruning series. If you haven’t read the other articles yet, please do before beginning your pruning session. There is a lot more to know than just how to prune a tree.
Before getting into the nuts and bolts here I want to share with you an observation I’ve made from my many years in the business. Ladders cause more accidents than any other single factor in the tree care business. To safely prune a limb while working on a ladder you need: one hand for the ladder, one hand for the limb the ladder is leaning on, one hand for the limb you are cutting and one hand for your cutting tool. Even if you have a tail you’ll be one hand short. And since your ladder must be positioned close to the limb you need to cut, this means the limb is going to fall near your ladder and very possibly bring your aerial support system to the ground. If you find yourself needing a ladder to do the job, STOP, it’s not worth it (or, at least call your insurance broker to make sure your health and life insurance policies are in good standing).
The first thing you’ll need to do is make sure you have the tools for the job. I recommend keeping the following tools if you are going to be an avid pruner: hand pruners, loppers, extendible pole saw and extendible pole loppers. An extension pole pruner combo is available that has both a saw and loppers in one tool. Chain saws are commonly used, but only go here if you really know how to handle them. There are a few issues with chain saws. One, if you don’t use them regularly they don’t want to run. Second, they are very dangerous. Even with the so called safety features you can easily cause yourself a major injury. Finally, it’s not easy to keep the chain in cutting condition. One nick of a rock or failing to cut in a straight line will quickly cause damage to your chain or bar. You can easily spend more money on chain saw maintenance than it would have cost you to hire somebody. Regarding your hand pruners and loppers, you’ll have a choice between two styles: anvil or by-pass. By-pass pruners work like scissors and anvil pruners come together like pliers only with one side having a knife and the other side being flat. The general consensus is that by-pass tools make a cleaner cut. But, by-pass pruners are easily bent out of alignment and once this happens they basically won’t cut at all. Anvil pruners are less prune to damage and when they are damaged they’ll still cut. From experience, I can tell you that the most important factor really is that you keep your pruners sharp. Have them sharpened at least once a year if you don’t know how to do it yourself.
The other thing you need to know about how to prune trees is how to make a proper cut. Technically written, a proper cut should be made just outside the branch bark ridge and leave the branch collar intact. Let me translate this into understandable terms for you. Let’s start by looking at the branch you want to cut off. Follow the branch all the way back to where it connects with its parent stem. Where it connects you will see on the top side of the joint, a line or crack that separates the limb you want to cut from the parent stem. DO NOT CROSS THIS LINE. Anything beyond this line (or crack) is tissue of the parent stem, you don’t want to damage the parent stem. So, starting just outside the line, cut perpendicular to the limb you are removing. Cutting perfectly perpendicular will cause the wound you make to be circular in shape. If you cut in an angle the wound will be oval instead of circular which means the wound will have larger surface area and will take the tree longer to callous over. If you are cutting a large limb make your first cut approximately 12” out from where your final cut will be. Often when removing large limbs, after cutting halfway through the limb, the limb will begin to crack and fall before you finish making your cut. This causes the bark to tear down the trunk and we don’t want this. When making your first cut 12” out from where your final cut will be, begin by making a small cut on the underside approximately ¼ through the branch. Doing this will cause the limb to snap off instead
I'm Keith Brown, owner of Austin Tree Experts. This is my repository of tree knowledge. I hope you find what you are looking for. Let me know if you don't.
