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TH: 'Limbing-Up' ...
Post-To: Tree-House@Majordomo.Flora.Com (Community Forestry) ----------
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Hi Tree-House -
I know that there hasn't been alot of traffic on the old list
here for awhile. You've got my apologies -- new job and other
good things are keeping me from staying as communicative as
I'd like to be. But I want everyone to keep writing about
whatever community-forestry-related issues are important to you.
For our professional arborists / foresters / nurseryfolks out
there, bring up your concerns even if you think they'd be over the
heads of many of us -- that's how you learned (as you recall).
For our novice colleagues -- what do you want to learn about trees?
We have a number of very knowledgeable listees here who can be
often very generous with their acquired wisdom. Sometimes I'll
just throw an issue out there and see what we get from it. One
deceptively interesting topic is 'limbing-up' trees. For street
trees it can be important for your success to get their lower
branches out of the reach of kids. This will of course be harmful
in the short term, but may ultimately increase that tree's lon-
gevity, furthermore reducing liabilty risks. Bushy conifers, and
especially hollies are often trained to an 'architecture' mimicking
that of broadleafs, generally for esthetic reasons. Sometimes
this sort of surgery will give an individual a more dramatic presence
in its local landscape. Also, pruning the lower branches of a
young tree will have a pronounced effect on its future growth.
Many tree lovers would prefer not interfering with a tree's de-
velopment at all -- heck, they're already beautiful, right -- why
fix it? But the realists know that such pruning is called for
under some conditions. What are some of the hazards of limbing-up
trees, and when is it really the best way to go? Are some trees
(like the hollies) especially forgiving of such treatments, and are
there other species who would be better off left on their own?
Lastly, are there best times of the year for doing *any* of your
major pruning work? The popular consensus appears to be that the
optimum season for any invasive cutting is in the 'dead' of winter.
PS: To Adam Poole in Kent UK - Keep up the good fight for your
ancient Cedar Tree. Your continuing reports are much appreciated
and our hearts are with you! Preserving our 'elders' is perhaps
the most spiritually rewarding of any pursuit in hometown forestry.
'We Rant, We Plant' ...
Richard@Flora.Com
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Richard Tryzno Ellsberry | FloraList Operations | Baltimore USDA Zone 7
-------------------------+-( http://flora.com )-+----------------------
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