Case study

[ATH]

I think he meant that many a long branch sets plenty of reactive wood to compensate for its own weight.

Yes. They spend their days reacting to the stresses of holding up that long branch.

 

[JD3000]

Thought so.

See I pay attention, even on my third 3 Floyds Necron 99 IPA.

 

[ATH]

Alright, if you remove one co dom at the fork and its a big diameter cut, do you remove or reduce any more?

Yes...I think either one needs a little help to make sure the existing forks aren't codominate. Those would be pretty small cuts.

 

[JD3000]

I mean at that time, accounting for the big cut on the stem.

 

[colb]

Yes. They spend their days reacting to the stresses of holding up that long branch.

But the weight is nothing compared to maximum force leverage events brought by wind and precip, which are rare events. I don't feel like trees are getting ready for that, day-in, day-out. I think trees constantly over-extend with respect to max force leverage events, and those events are the bread and butter of this type of discussion. Not trying to merely stir the pot, just trying to figure these things out...

 

[JD3000]

Maximum force no but they do make more of this type of wood to compensate for "normal" loading events. Not arguing against reduction cuts in general though, just saying it can be a case by case basis.

 

[colb]

I mean at that time, accounting for the big cut on the stem.

I agree with @ATH. A little reduction on one of the remaining two would provide a lot of return for a little cutting. Past that, starts getting into that 25% of crown range... But it would look horrible that first year!

 

[JD3000]

I hear ya, hit some Freemans pretty hard the past couple of weeks.

 

[JD3000]

In the interest of co-som subordination, do you folks ever make you initial reduction, you "main" cut and then also a small reduction on the branch which have reduced back to? Hope that makes sense...

Yes, in the interests of sending more resources to your newly established leader.

 

[JD3000]

Sometimes yes, especially when winter pruning it seems. Later spring is a little better for suppressing growth as energy has been spent already.

 

[colb]

In the interest of co-som subordination, do you folks ever make you initial reduction, you "main" cut and then also a small reduction on the branch which have reduced back to? Hope that makes sense...

Without doing that, it can feel a bit like thinning, right? 4m branch for a .5m reduction... I'm trying to up my game to get away from that. Wondering if doubling the number of cuts and halving their diameter is in order... Makes me want to climb with that industrial-looking ARS bipass pruner on a long stick...

 

[JD3000]

Then it becomes a matter of dose and pruning cycle. So that depends on species, age, and current vitality.

 

[JD3000]

Interesting, I'll have to pay closer attention in the coming years., makes sense.

Yeah, it seems that winter prunings can be outgrown pretty easily on younger and faster species.

 

[JD3000]

Those cuts could be good enough to stunt their growth for a bit but the original crappy angle of attachment remains.

Again, branches that could have been removed or reduced a while ago but this is what we get when we show up

 

[JD3000]

Upright sugar mapleCloser

After

Pretty high dose on a pretty young tree but the biggest cuts are done for now.

 

[JD3000]

Yep, waayyyy to late. In this variety of Linden though, nearly every union is acute and included.... smilar to autumn blaze maple.

But sooooo soft and a pleasure to cut.

 

[JD3000]

Went hard on this one. Interested to see how it sprouts.

 

[JD3000]

I've said that very same thing.

 

[JD3000]

I hear that but I've got a gazillion trees to get to now and many haven't been touched. The young ones I'm trying to get a better start on than most of the older ones.

 

[JD3000]

Don't. Easier to zoom in on a phone this way.