Unpopular opinion: Spur climbing on healthy elms gets the job done without hurting them long-term

All this talk about bark damage misses how fast trees bounce back if you're careful.

3 comments

3 Comments

That point about trees bouncing back is spot on. I've seen elms heal up just fine after spur work. As long as you avoid deep cuts and watch your technique, the damage is minimal. People worry too much without seeing how tough these trees really are.

sean_martin442d ago

Yeah @drew_grant52, they really do just swallow the damage.

nathanbailey4d ago

Man, my buddy had this huge old maple in his yard that got absolutely shredded by a rookie climber's spurs years back. Looked like someone went at it with a cheese grater. @drew_grant52 is right though, we checked it last fall and you could barely see the marks anymore. The tree just slowly swallowed the scars over like five or six seasons. It really shows how much abuse they can take and still keep going strong if you give them time.