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Spent 3 hours pruning a maple wrong because I didn't check the collar first

I just got done hacking at a big silver maple in a client's yard near downtown. Took me 3 hours to trim it up nice and clean. Then my buddy stopped by and pointed out I left stub cuts on 4 of the bigger limbs. Cut right past the branch collar each time. That tree is gonna rot from those cuts. Lost about $200 of my time on that job since I gotta go back and redo it. Has anyone else made this stupid mistake and had to eat the cost?
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4 Comments
susan649
susan64915d ago
Haven't we all learned that lesson the hard way though? I did the exact same thing on a client's oak last spring and felt like such a goof when I saw the stubs the next morning. It's a bummer to eat the cost but at least now you know for next time lol.
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dianaanderson
Wait, does anyone actually know if the tree species matters for this? I've hacked back maples and birches like crazy and they've been fine, but I did the same thing to a mature black walnut and it started oozing sap for months. Makes me wonder if some trees are just more forgiving than others when we screw up.
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murray.drew
Read a study that said stub cuts lead to decay spreading 3x faster.
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drew_reed62
@murray.drew's study makes me feel better about my 3 hours of firewood prep.
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