climbingmonkey24
Carpal tunnel level member
- Location
- United States
Today I pruned a tree with black knot fungus. Pretty sure it’s my first time working with it.
For some reason I was feeling real anxious about how to handle myself around this fungus. I read you’re supposed to burn or dispose in bags the material but that simply wouldn’t be realistic for the amount of debris there was. So I threw it in a dump trailer rather than chipping to minimize dust.
Then I started worrying about it being toxic to humans, even though everything I’ve read says it’s not. So I don a respirator and wear that. Then after the work I take my jacket off, place it in a separate bag, put paper towels down on the truck seat so as not to cross-contaminate anything, and probably used hand sanitizer at least a dozen times during the job. I also didn’t want to use my climbing gear because I was worried about cross-contamination. Then I get home and immediately take my clothes off and run them on a hot cycle and disinfect my shoes with sanitizing wipes.
I honestly don’t know if this is anxious behavior or some of it at least is smart to be doing?
Also, separate from above, what about the pruning tools. I’ve read isopropyl alcohol or bleach can be good for disinfecting, but what I can’t seem to find is should you rinse it off with water after to remove any chemical residue before doing any pruning? Or should it not hurt the tree?
For some reason I was feeling real anxious about how to handle myself around this fungus. I read you’re supposed to burn or dispose in bags the material but that simply wouldn’t be realistic for the amount of debris there was. So I threw it in a dump trailer rather than chipping to minimize dust.
Then I started worrying about it being toxic to humans, even though everything I’ve read says it’s not. So I don a respirator and wear that. Then after the work I take my jacket off, place it in a separate bag, put paper towels down on the truck seat so as not to cross-contaminate anything, and probably used hand sanitizer at least a dozen times during the job. I also didn’t want to use my climbing gear because I was worried about cross-contamination. Then I get home and immediately take my clothes off and run them on a hot cycle and disinfect my shoes with sanitizing wipes.
I honestly don’t know if this is anxious behavior or some of it at least is smart to be doing?
Also, separate from above, what about the pruning tools. I’ve read isopropyl alcohol or bleach can be good for disinfecting, but what I can’t seem to find is should you rinse it off with water after to remove any chemical residue before doing any pruning? Or should it not hurt the tree?
