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Spur pruning oaks in summer now, not winter, after what our crew saw in Raleigh last August
Learned the hard way that oak wilt spreads through winter pruning cuts, so we switched to dormant-season work years ago, but a state forester at a Raleigh workshop last August showed us that summer pruning within 2 weeks of full leaf-out actually limits beetle attraction better than waiting for dormancy, and now I want to know if anyone else has made that switch or if we are the only crew in the county trying it.
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mason_murray5d ago
The "within 2 weeks of full leaf-out" part matches what I got told at a forestry field day in Missouri a couple years back. The guy there said the sap is moving so hard that fresh cuts don't give off the right smell or whatever the beetles key in on, and the wound starts sealing over fast in warm weather. He still said it only works in that narrow window, so if you miss it you're better off waiting for winter. Curious how it holds up for you since Raleigh isn't Missouri and the beetle pressure is different.
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