I finally saw the difference after 6 months of not pruning my red maple

I left a young red maple alone for half a year just to see what would happen. The branches grew all wild and crossing each other, and now the bark is rubbing off in three places. Next year I'm gonna have to cut out way more wood than if I just kept up with it. Has anyone else seen bad rubbing damage from skipping a season?

2 comments

2 Comments

hayden7201mo ago

My buddy Dave let his oak go for a whole summer and ended up with a branch rubbing so deep it looked like someone took a knife to the trunk... had to take off three big limbs just to save the tree.

harper_owens1mo ago

Rub check the tree every few weeks if you let it go that long again, that bark damage gets worse fast once it starts. A sharp pruning saw and a clean cut on the rubbing branch early on would have saved Dave a lot of headache later. Next time tell him to catch it before the cambium gets chewed up, a little maintenance beats losing half the canopy every time.