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When is the best time to prune an oak tree?

Started by JetMaxx, March 05, 2006, 12:27:46 AM

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JetMaxx

I have some fruit trees that need to be freed up by removing some oak limbs.  Is this the best time of year to do this?  And, is there anything I can do to make for a less detrimental impact to the oak trees?

Jeff

You need to do it now, the sooner the better. if You are even anywhere close to an oak wilt area you must prune during dormancy. In this area, late October to early March. Obviously, this time can certainly depend on weather conditions and latitudes.
Just call me the midget doctor.
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Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

JetMaxx

Thanks Jeff...I'm in SE PA.  Any wilt in this neck of the woods?

Sawyerfortyish

I've been working on my dads trees for the last 2 weekends. Prune now before the insects come out in the spring.

Ron Wenrich

Oak wilt hasn't been that much of a problem in PA since the '70s.  I don't hear much talk about wilt or gypsy moth.

I still would do it during dormancy.   
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

SwampDonkey

I agree with pruning during domancy, most folks prune from March to early May up here. Remember our spring bud break is later than you folks south.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Ron Wenrich

Swamp

I remember a question in forest ecology (I think), where it was asked if Quebec had buds break before or after State College, PA (center of the state).  The answer was before.

Reason:  the photoperiod was longer in Quebec after the vernal equinox.  I think it also reasoned that temperatures were about the same,

Even though we have had a relatively mild winter, the red maple still aren't pushing.  They're usually first in late March, or early April.  Oaks don't leaf out until early May.

I'll have to keep a closer eye on it this year.  Might be interesting to see how much of a difference there really is.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

SwampDonkey

Ron, that's a head scrather because we were tought that bud break is triggered by temperature and bud set in the fall is triggered by photoperiod.

I seen this happen in 1981 when we had a mild winter in January and February, t-shirt weather, the buds on the bristly locust broke and started elongating into leaves and then March it got cold and killed the trees stone dead. The poplars also flowered and I've seen them start flowering in late november a couple year back when we had a really mild late fall. I do know if our March was like late May our hardwoods would leave out, we have 12 hours of daylight now and we gain daylight the fastest in the month of March.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Ron Wenrich

Not necessarily a head scratcher when you think about epicormic buds.  They lie dormant unless they are stimulated by sunlight.  Same mechanism?

The buds swelling due to temperature also makes sense.  My understanding of sap flow is that it increases when you have really cold nights and some fairly warm days.  There is a pressure increase on the inside of the tree, and that causes the sap to flow.  When there isn't any leaves, then I imagine those buds would swell. 

We has some hard maple that was cut in November-December and had frozen when it got real cold.  Then, we cut it during a warm spot in January.  So much sap flowed from those logs that the floor was wet.  It seemed that the debarking process also help to increase the flow.

I did note that hickory logs were putting forth some sap in the log piles during a warm day.  The unusual part was that logs that were shaded or any portion of the log that was shaded didn't produce sap.

Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

SwampDonkey

I think the epicormic branching is a different response. I'm not sure of the science behind it, but I think it has more to do with light intensity, not photoperiod. After all if shade kept a tree from growing than sugar maple seedlings and beech seedlings that cover the forest floor would never grow. Take the over story off and they grow like crazy though. Hardwood stumps sprout, more depending on age of the parent tree and species. Light is like fertilizer, but not really. It's the energy needed to make use of nutrients and air and water to produce wood and food. Which is a given, for us foresters anyway. ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Ron Wenrich

I'm aware of the beech and hard maple in the understory.  There are quite a few shrub species that are pretty tolerant.  But, in the spring, there is no overstory in the form of leaves.  So, sunlight would be hitting the forest floor as well as the forest canopy.  Just a thought.

Have you ever seen beech or hard maple in the understory of a hemlock forest?  I can't recall seeing any, maybe you have.  The more mature the hemlock forest, the less there is in the understory.  Is this because there is no sunlight reaching the forest floor?
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

SwampDonkey

I have seen beech, balsam fir and maple, striped maple in under mature hemlock, but they are scarce unless it was a mature hemlock stand that also cantained fir that became decadent, then the fir is so thick you have to pry your way through with a crow bar. :D :D You won't get any significant survival under mature balsam and spruce stands either, that's why most our heavy softwood that's clearcut (before the fir dies) come back to 90 % aspen. I'll see tons of fir regen like a carpet sometimes, but they don't survive in closed softwood canopy. But, fir will grow under red maple and poplar, not so much under sugar maple stands unless the stand has had some cutting. Red spruce will grow in under sugar maple though. I know one woodlot where it (red spruce) was thicker than the fir. It will respond well to release after being suppressed for years.

If we cut beech from sugar maple-white ash-beech stands for firewood, that will be so thick to beech in ten years it's like walking through hawthornes. The sugar maple seedlings will mostly die off once the beech regen are established. Ash seems to survive because it can grow faster than beech in the openings. What's even worse or just as bad as beech is ironwood. It will take over the understory of a sugar bush sometimes. I never know where the seed comes from because most sites have very few ironwood big enough to produce seed. ::)

[snip]
According to the National Seed Centre, when larger hardwood seed is being tested after being stratified, the number of seed in Kimpak boxes is reduced. The boxes are placed in a controlled environment germination cabinet with 8 hours light at 30°C and 16 hours darkness at 20°C with a constant humidity of 85%.
Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) seed from the Maritimes region of eastern Canada may be more dormant than seed from other parts of the range. The germination testing prescriptions of the International Seed Testing Association and Association of Official Seed Analysts call for 28 days pre-chill at 3–5°C followed by 28 days in a germination cabinet at constant 15°C. The Seed Centre has found that 28 days of pre-chilling is insufficient to break dormancy. An experiment was set up using eight local seed lots, moist chilling for 0, 4 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24 weeks at 3°C and germinating at 15°C, 10/15°C, and 15/25°C (8 hours light/16 hours dark) for 28 days. Sixteen weeks of chilling was necessary for the seed to overcome dormancy. Germination was slightly higher (90.0 %) at 15/25°C than at 15°C (87.75 %). To accommodate variation among seed lots, the Seed Centre will moist chill seed for 20 weeks and germinate the seed at 15°C.
[/snip]

A little digression here....
I had some yellow birch seedlings that came late in the planting season, and they were only 4 inches tall. I took them home and left them up on my trailor so the mice wouldn't get to them and I walked the water and fertilizer to'm. By mid august I had birch from 12 to 18 inches tall. I set them out behind the house and there are some photos in the forum showing them after 3 years in the ground. Some are almost 6 feet, some are about 2 feet, depending on the weeds and grass. Also the moose has been clipping a few once in awhile just before daylight in the spring. They love birch. I planted about 3500 on the woodlot and they terrorized them all, what they never got the hare and mice got. :D :D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

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