The oak I saw in Savannah has me questioning my whole pruning approach

Walked through Forsyth Park last weekend and noticed a massive live oak with crown raising so aggressive it looked like a palm tree with extra steps. The cuts were flush to the trunk, no collar left at all, and the tree is clearly stressed with epicormic shoots everywhere. Has anyone else seen municipal contractors butcher historic trees like this, and is there any way to push back on the city about it without getting blacklisted?

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elizabethn5623d ago

Ah yes, the palm tree oak. A classic. Next they'll top it and call it a "safety prune." I've watched crews in my own town do this to a 200 year old bur oak at the courthouse, hacked it back to nubs in July, and then act shocked when it dropped limbs the next storm. Flush cuts like that open the door for rot to march straight into the heartwood, and those epicormic shoots are the tree basically screaming for help. Throw some mulch on it and walk away, because you can't fix stupid with a pole saw. City hall will only listen if you show up with photos and a certified arborist's report, and even then they might just nod and do it again next budget cycle.

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