When you say infected trees do not recover, does that still allow for a kind of standoff, where the tree grows enough new tissue to compensate for the lost tissue? So in landscape tree terms, it could be quite reasonable to retain?
Sometimes to resolve the ambiguity it helps to stop thinking about what is absolutely correct, and go with the flow of what looks accepted or expected.
And keep taking practice tests, that's the resource that I would advise.
This looks a ways up in the crown, on a semimature tree. Rot from excessively large cuts could be a bigger issue for structure than eliminating included bark and acute angles. These are so common on those maples, maybe eliminating them is not a realistic objective.
Based on those images, I...
First, those cuts look like removal cuts. A reduction cut would be further out. Since there is no collar on codoms, what is the advantage of cutting that far back? ATH and VB are right on this.
P.S. Ignore the 1/3 rule.
Second, different general have different architecture. Removal cuts on...
Internal decay is a bugaboo, a boogeyman, a phantom of the operation of fearmongering.
Living wood is sapwood. A mature tree needs about 4" or so, give or take.
Heartwood is mostly dead cells caked with waste products. When trees lose heartwood, they are flushing their toilets. Here are 4...
Definitely woody matter belongs on the surface. like anything you cannot break up with your fingers.
Think about what happens in nature.
What makes you think there is extensive decay? Those types of wounds often have no or very little decay, and the woundwood can more than make up for it in...
Diagnose first. The big infections seem old--see the woundwood on the edges?
Bleeding lesions should be cleaned and heated. phosphite drench.
No reason to reduce load (yet)--no strength loss observable.
I hope the cedar mulch was not added to the soil.
"I can’t help but notice the large...
Totally impossible to opine without seeing the crown. But hey this is the internet.
BMP much more useful than Part 3, but it overreacts to cracks. 1 cable at most Might do it; impossible to say.
If you put a bull rope in that tree and tried to pull it over with your truck, you would have failed.
These 4 trees below were retained in high-target locations. Ants, concrete? Paranoia strikes deep...
1. post a pic.
2. yes just cut behind the break, no more. Try to identify a node where there are buds (pic?)
3. There is NO COLLAR on a stem as you describe. So there is no way to make a collar cut...