Guy at the job site in Tulsa told me to stop topping that oak, and he was dead right

Thea Carter · 2026-10-15T20:00:07.287418+00:00

I was 22 and had been hacking back this poor water oak on a commercial lot in Tulsa for two seasons because the manager just wanted it off the power lines fast. An older climber named Ray watched me make the same cut 3 times, then walked over and said 'son, you're making a bush, not a tree.' He showed me the rot pockets forming at every stub and I've never touched a topping cut since, so what's the one piece of advice from an old timer that actually changed how you work?

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Guy at the job site in Tulsa told me to stop topping that oak, and he was dead right | Arborists - Librear