Use sharp blades and equipment that can handle the girth.

Apr 14, If you’ve ever watched an arborist work or driven down a street full of recently pruned trees, you may have noticed that arborists sometimes paint the stubs left behind when branches are pruned. This leads many homeowners, property managers and landscaping professionals to wonder if they should do the same.

Nontoxic Sealers. Nontoxic sealers, or all-natural sealers, are another type of prune sealer that can be helpful when coating tree wounds. They act in a similar fashion to asphalt and latex sealers, but they contain none of the chemicals. If an oak tree needs to be pruned during the growing season, for example to correct storm damage, immediately (within 15 minutes) paint the pruning cuts with a latex house paint.

Winter (December, January, and February) is the best time to prune oak trees in Iowa. There is no need to paint the pruning wounds when oaks are pruned in winter. How to Make Your Own Pruned Tree Paint. Step 1. Measure three parts each of diatomaceous earth, composted animal manure and soft rock phosphate into a.

Use clean and maybe disinfected cutting equipment.

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From my own experience, painting the wound over with either thick lime solution or another fungicide like lime sulfur is better than the black wound paint. As for the point made about sap flow, even this is being revised in horticulture. Answer: Do not apply a pruning paint or wound dressing to pruning wounds.

The application of a pruning paint or wound dressing does not prevent wood decay and may actually interfere with the tree’s natural wound responses. Oak trees are an exception to the no paint recommendation. To prevent the transmission of oak wilt, oak trees should not. While coating the ends of branches when pruning generally is considered an outdated practice that actually does more harm than good in some circumstances, you can still do it. For example, when certain trees are wounded during a critical time of year for their type, it is important to give them extra protection.