What should I do with this unusual limb with dead wood?

[Winchman]

The tree is an otherwise healthy pine about ninety feet tall and over three feet in diameter at its base. The limb is about thirty-five feet up, and is almost parallel to the trunk.

The two cuts just below A were made long ago by someone else.

I want to get rid of the dead wood marked in red above B. I was climbing on the far side of the tree the other day to cut a small dead branch higher up. I reached around to see if I could do anything, but the live part of the limb just below B felt like it moved around much more than it should for its size and length. I didn't feel comfortable tying off to it while making the cut with my 10" folding pruning saw.

I've got a new TIP on this side of the tree now, but I'm not sure what to do. The limb at B is about three inches in diameter. With the limb moving around, it's probably going to be harder than making a slightly larger cut at A. I don't usually like to cut off live limbs, but this one just seems wrong.

Should I cut it at B to get rid of just the dead wood, or cut it at A to get rid of the whole weird limb?

 

[Matthew Stone]

I'd cut it just below the canker and see if there's any chance of recovery, bonus of seeing how far the decay is if it's traveling already.

 

[Winchman]

Wow, I'm embarrassed that I completely missed seeing the canker. That probably explains the weakness I observed. Now I'm excited to get up there and check it out.

 

[evo]

Does it have any targets?

 

[Jonny]

If it was my yard and nothing at risk, I might leave it or maybe yank it out with a throw line. Unless I was looking for excuses to climb something

 

[flushcut]

Cut at A

 

[JeffGu]

Personally, unless it bursts into flames and starts giving you instructions on how to get to the promised land, I'd whack it off at point "A" and be done with it.

 

[southsoundtree]

"A" is not a branch-collar pruning cut. Its above a whole of pruned branches. If going for "A", you need to make a limb-removal cut at "A", and finish at the branch-collar with a final pruning cut of the stub.

 

[Winchman]

I got a closer look at the limb this afternoon. The limb was in bad shape with cankers on all the live branches, so I made cuts from the front and back that almost met just above A, attached a rope, came down, and pulled the limb down from a safe distance. I didn't want to take a chance with the limb falling on my climbing gear around the base of the tree.

When I cut the limb up, I found the center was hollowed out by rot far below the big canker.

I'll go back up to make the final pruning cut.

 

[southsoundtree]

I got a closer look at the limb this afternoon. The limb was in bad shape with cankers on all the live branches, so I made cuts from the front and back that almost met just above A, attached a rope, came down, and pulled the limb down from a safe distance. I didn't want to take a chance with the limb falling on my climbing gear around the base of the tree.

When I cut the limb up, I found the center was hollowed out by rot far below the big canker.
View attachment 64516
I'll go back up to make the final pruning cut.

That's not the most straightforward branch-collar to find.
Remember that you are trying to take all all the branch that you can (some is inside the trunk) WITHOUT damaging any trunk tissue. Better a tiny stub that damage to the trunk, if in doubt.

 

[Winchman]

As it turns out, I had to make the final cut just above where the two small limbs had been previously removed. There was a slight dimple in the trunk, and I would have cut into the trunk itself in order to make the final cut any lower. I made the cut perpendicular to the trunk, and the wood looked pretty healthy all the way across the cut. It looks good from the ground, too.