My cousin's hack job on the maple tree still haunts me

He grabbed garden shears for branches as thick as my wrist, making ragged cuts that won't heal right. I had to explain why proper pruning saws are needed for tree health. Family help is nice, but without the right skills, it does more harm than good. Now I politely but firmly handle all tree care myself.

2 comments

2 Comments

angelajohnson1d ago

Ugh, does the tree look really sad now? I've seen that kind of hack job before, like big torn stubs that just weep sap and look awful forever. It honestly hurts to see, knowing it's going to let in rot and bugs. I notice those bad cuts on trees around my neighborhood all the time and it just bugs me. Yeah, you're totally right to just take care of it yourself from now on.

amy_cooper3121h ago

My brother butchered our mom's crabapple tree with a dull handsaw last spring. All those torn branches looked brutal, but trees are way tougher than people give them credit for. I showed him how to clean up the cuts with a proper saw and make the collar cut. That tree pushed out new growth by summer. Sometimes you gotta let people try and just step in to fix the method, tbh.