Common Tree Myths in West Asheville, NC
One of the largest myths in tree care is that of pruning. Let’s clarify first, pruning itself is fantastic, however the specific cutting methods are very important. A large myth in pruning is the idea that the last cut on a limb should be flush at the stem or connection to a healthy branch. This wrong for multiple reasons, first trees do not recover from damage the way other living things do. As humans, we can recover from a wound and only keep a scar. For trees, they simply learn to grow over the wound.
This means that a deep cut, crack, or puncture to a tree will always be there, even if it resides underneath the surface for quite a while. Doing a pruning cut with flush on the crown will likely only create a larger wound. This is dangerous because it leaves a bigger opening for infection, and infestation. Another common myth about trees is that the roots below the ground are a perfect duplicate of the crown that grows up top. This is false, many roots will grow into forced directions as a result of rocks, and dense soils which cannot be breached by the roots. Furthermore, these root systems will sometimes travel far beyond the length of the crowns longest branches.