Love the video I recently became an arborist I feel like the only way to better myself is to watch videos like this learn from my mistakes get my KZfaq degree

Really appreciate your content Blair. I'm just a layman, but I've learned so much from watching your channel.

Like I’ve always said I love how you do these informative videos. I’ve had my Red Oaks and Silver Maple trimmed a few times by a tree service and their all about the customer being happy. I told them I didn’t want them to climb with spikes which they say they never do because it injures the tree. I told them I understand y’all have other jobs to do but please be careful with the cuts you make on the trees and they did. They actually wanted me to watch them to make sure they were pruning trees to my standard. They are very professional and nice to have around. I’ve recommended them to my neighbors and friends and they have the same experience. It’s good to see a tree business that’s knows what they are doing.

Mr. Glenn, thanks for sharing your knowledge! A simple comment here just to increase the chance for the YT algorithm to share this with others!

Really appreciate your videos. I learn something new every time I listen to you. Thanks for passing on your knowledge and experience.

I’m a contract climber 15+yr experience around it and 10+yr climbing professionally…glad to hear the truth from someone else. Kudos. Hope the tides have turned in you favor. If not lmk. Stay safe

Thank you!!

Hi Blair On our local housing estate We have a small shopping area With a “green” in the middle of it It’s as old as the estate It had 3 massive Sycamore trees which had completely taken over If fact one branch had fallen causing small damage to a roof In summer Leaves blocked out all sunlight Autumn leaves I’ll say no more Well a team came in and scalped them all Really cut them back to the main trunk Is it called pollard They looked awful May as well have felled them completely This was 4 years ago In spring and summer they are starting to shoot However they do look terrible Every one else is pleased they no longer look a mess 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ Mother Nature just can’t win over the $/£ Interesting video as always Take care brother 👍👍

www.buymeacoffee.com/blairglenn

You mentioned infection. Do you ever disinfect your tools to try preventing disease spread? Is that a recommended practice?

They could chainsaw prune and leave a little branch collar. I'll prune with a small, 12" tophandle but use a handsaw for the smaller cuts.

Such a relief to see the avenue of healthy trees at the end. Those flush cuts of the low hanging horizontal branch were just mean. Mean and crazy. If it was my tree I’d have wept. But what do you do once the cut has been made? Should you call the cowboys back? Refuse to pay? Or get in a better company and pay twice and get it done better in the end. (No points for saying employ a better company in the first place, everyone knows that’s the best answer, and which company!😂)

That was a quick one! But I totally agree - I'd say the vast majority of people offering tree work in the area where I live don't have a clue about trees. They do a quick course at a college to get their certificates and then they set up in business. It's one thing being able to climb a tree and cut bits off, but something else altogether knowing what to cut, why and how. Here, there's a lot of what I call Farmer's pruning. Farmers get grants to plant trees. They let them get to about 15 years old, then decide they need to tidy them up. They cut all the branches they can reach off, usually with horrendous flush cuts and sometimes, whorls of branches cut so flush they effectively ring-bark the trees. Then the trees die and the cut them down. The get a grant to plant some more!

I see this daily, it reminds me of the last company I worked for

I audibly gasped at some of those cuts

Now that I've learned about trees it's tough to see all the butchering going on (even though I was guilty of some errors myself). In response to some of the concerned comments I see here, I'll share a few thoughts: ultimately we have to keep our own sanity and positivity first and beware of creating conflict or looking down on others. The "make wrong" thing, where someone's just doing what we would likely do if we were in their shoes, and suddenly along comes someone who makes them wrong. That can turn anybody off. Then they can sort of fear/hate the educated people and get even more stubborn. Might even inspire them to cut up a tree just to spite the "know it all's". (I'm not directing this to you Blair, you gotta call things as you see em and I love your videos, just saying in general.) The times I've had success with sharing good information is when I'm a living, happy, successful example of doing things in good ways, and then treat people cool, totally free of judgment or pressure, and then at least the door is open to them wanting to 'come onboard' and learn/change. I guess one good thing is that even though trees are a long-term thing, they do grow/die/grow on their own, and in the big-picture bad tree work is still better than some other more horrible and more long-lasting or permanent things people can do to each other and our planet. My thought is to stay happy, and let good tree work be inviting, "cool", "in", and non-threatening, especially as the younger, more 'enlightened' generations grow up and replace the old stubborn mules who think caring for a tree is weak or stupid or wussy or whatever....we all want to end up getting along anyway, and using negativity to push stuff on the uninformed doesn't seem to work too well, as we're seeing these days more than ever. Hope that helps just a little bit, everything's gonna be all right. Cheers :)

Can you do a video on phytophthora of trees like beech or maple (not oak)? At what point can they not be saved? How much of the trunk girdled by the disease is too late to save it and how long we can expect the tree to survive?

You should make a second video after a couple years that show us how the tree reacts to the cuts

I've read "An Illustrated Guide to Pruning" by E.F. Gilman 👍. Any other book you'd suggest?

One of the big reasons I'm always skeptical of hiring "professionals" who are more interested in doing things quick rather than correctly.

Where can you go to school to become a arborist? Or what type of school.

Awesome

Is there a way to identify a good company for a novice? Any signs to look out for?

Can you explain why flush cuts are not ok?

I do know that Michigan State University was not able to successfully move oak wilt from tree to tree by use of tools. I’m curious if other fungi are similar

Ol' bucket truck Barry doin his deeds

DTE, our electric company here will be doing it's bi-annual line clearance work in a couple days. I make sure every tree I have even remotely near powerlines are in compliance. Often power companies use this program as "training" for new employees. I'm sure MANY have horror stories regarding this. While they do make efforts to discuss trimming procedure's, more often than not their "company policy's" inevitably win out and hearts are broken. HOMEOWNERS, PLANT SUCCESFULY!

I would avoid any tree service named, "Cheap Tree Service".

"Wham Bam Thank You Mam !"...

Those trees have more dog ears than the county kennel.

0:36 whaaaa daaaaa.... is it me? I've pruned exactly one bough in my life but did a shallow undercut to save the bark from injury take too long.... or what?😢

So many people just dont care. The only thing they care about is money.

There's a lot of competition in the boise area...I see new guys popping up all the time. The good news is, there's a knowledgeable customer base, and the HACKS get run out of town.

Poor tree. Not only cuts, but bad ones with nicks and rips. They should be beat with stick for such sloppy work. Glad you're here to speak for them.

Yeah it's a shame people are just out there for the money

The sad part, Blair, is that attitude and practice is widely replicated through every nook and cranny of the worked economy. Why make the effort when, unmentored/untutored, quality is unknown to you - in such a setting your only avenue to 'excellence' is to innovate by doing things faster and faster still though misusing your tools and your time.

I was one of these people until I went to HORT school

Cut through the collars too

You can still do the 3 cut method with a chainsaw and you need to sterilize your bar and chain when cutting the next tree. Whoever did that needs to be run out of business.

Alex Shigo is gone and it is back to the stone age.

While this kind of work is bad, I can't tell you how many times I see trees topped as well. Tree work in my area is very bad. If the tree service gets to come back in 1-3 years to do more work because of topping they get even more money to continue a terrible practice. I've also been led astray by tree service guys as well. Once there was a post on Craigslist that there's 50 rounds of ash firewood for free to pick up, it was TREE OF HEAVEN. I was wondering why a guy in the truck wouldn't even look me in the eye when I went to pick it up. I stared at the timber for a while because it didn't look right. But ended up taking some. Pretty sure the sap can enlarge your heart or do some type of damage to it. Really scummy thing to lie about.

I use denatured alcohol on our tools between trees to be pruned and on saw chains especially after working on a comprised tree with an obvious fungal or pathogen issue. Unethical practice to use an un-disinfected saw or pruner on a client’s trees or shrubs after pruning in a diseased tree or shrub prior.

A hack job if ever I saw one.

That avenue isn't beautiful, it's jam-packed in trees: 1 every 6 could be sufficient (if they are platanus acerifolia like they seems to be).

That's not tree trimming that's butchered! I didnt get into the industry to do that to trees!

Dimming others lighter wont make yours shine brifhter my friend