Roundhouse
New Member
- Location
- SW Washington
Stumbled upon this thread a couple days ago and have been flipping through it. I’m pretty new to the tree care conversation but a couple things came to mind. First of all, I think most of us are not heading into the forest to prune deadwood. Seems to me the conversation is really about how removing deadwood might benefit trees in a human altered environment. Or maybe it’s even more about how we might balance the desires and aesthetics of humans while respecting the natural disposition of trees and help them thrive outside of their natural habitat (the forest). One of the concepts of permaculture is using ecological systems as a model for sustainable food production. If the benefit to the tree’s health of removing deadwood is unclear or unprovable the deadwood can still be removed for other reasons (risk reduction, aesthetics) and then used to make the tree’s environment more like its natural habitat. Maybe chip some of the wood and leave it under the tree or pile it up nearby and encourage homeowners to broadcast it under the tree as is decays. The deadwood can still be habitat after it’s removed and turned into soil just like in the forest. In the era of pristine lawns and leaf collection this might be a tuff sell but it’s worth discussing.
I’d like to think that removing deadwood helps the tree and that humans can help trees thrive. The analogy of a doctor removing a busted toenail comes to mind. Yeah, the nail will come off on it’s own eventually but having it removed helps prevent infection and is much less painful in the long run. I pruned some deadwood out of a big leaf maple in my field the other day. I noticed a lot of cavities in the dead-to-live unions where water pooled and seemed to promote decay. Maybe removing those dead limbs earlier would help prevent that? Also, it seems to me that hangers aren’t a good thing for the limbs they get stuck in so removing those before they break off might be beneficial. I took some of the deadwood for firewood and left several piles close to the tree for habitat and future soil.
I’d like to think that removing deadwood helps the tree and that humans can help trees thrive. The analogy of a doctor removing a busted toenail comes to mind. Yeah, the nail will come off on it’s own eventually but having it removed helps prevent infection and is much less painful in the long run. I pruned some deadwood out of a big leaf maple in my field the other day. I noticed a lot of cavities in the dead-to-live unions where water pooled and seemed to promote decay. Maybe removing those dead limbs earlier would help prevent that? Also, it seems to me that hangers aren’t a good thing for the limbs they get stuck in so removing those before they break off might be beneficial. I took some of the deadwood for firewood and left several piles close to the tree for habitat and future soil.