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Saturday - April 28, 2012

From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Diseases and Disorders, Pests, Trees
Title: Pruning live oak in Austin
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Hi, We recently purchased a house in South Austin and there is a huge Live Oak Tree about 6 feet from the back door (so so so love it!) The only real issues I have so far are: 1. Needing to trim a few bigger dead branches (about 24 foor high where they come off a bigger branch directly over where people would be if we had company over) before it just falls off on some one. After reading other post on this site I see it is not good to trim an Oak between Feb and June, so I guess I can wait till July when the real heat is on and do it (and paint seal it) my question is if it just snaps/breaks off on its own should I go paint/seal it as soon as I see that it fell? Might be hard as I have no way of reaching it to do so with out leaning on the rest of the dying branch. Which will probably break as well.. Or (if it breaks) should I just go ahead and trim it since it is already exposed and paint it then so I don't have to do it again in a few months and risk double exposure? 2. There are many Suckers popping up all over, right outside our door, and in between 2 small slabs of concrete, some are already getting over a foot high, If I do not weed-eat them down, at some point my dogs will chew on them and break the bark on them any way, is there a good way of handling this?

ANSWER:

The first thing we would recommend is that you engage a licensed arborist to make these decisions. He will have ladders, proper pruning equipment and pruning paint. We realize that is not free but, compared to the value of your live oak and the expenses of a broken leg, we believe it's the best way to go.

The rule on pruning live oaks is that if the branch is larger around than your thumb, you should paint it with pruning paint. Those suckers in the ground should be nipped off with pruning shears very close to the ground. They will keep coming up, but just persevere. Do not, please, use a weedeater around the tree, ever. Damage to the bark, especially during the times of year when the Nitulidid beetle is active, could quickly cause a sap leakage that would invite the beetle over for a drink. And that beetle might very well already have had a drink at another wounded oak where Oak Wilt was already present, the fungus would stick to the body of the beetle and would infect your tree.