Talked to an old timer about wound dressings on oaks last Thursday

Met this retired arborist at a job site in Portland. He watched me paint a pruning cut on a red oak and just laughed. Said I was wasting my time and doing more harm than good. He showed me how trees seal themselves if you cut proper. Been doing it by the book for 3 years before that conversation. Has anyone else stopped using wound paint after trying it for years?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_aaron20d ago

Swear I wasted five years smearing tar on cuts before someone told me the same thing.

felix_martin5619d ago

You said "smearing tar on cuts" and that's pretty much exactly what I did too. But I gotta gently push back on that word tar because the stuff I used was more like a thick latex paint, not actual tar. The old timers I've talked to say the tar based stuff can actually trap moisture and make things worse. Same end result though, we both stopped using it and the trees seem to heal way better on their own now. I honestly feel kind of silly looking back at all those cans I bought.