I think one of the things that you should have to accomplish before becoming certified is having to slather yourself with peanut butter at least one time to remove sap.

I think Alex Shigo is a name that most responsible arborists will be aware of, at least superficially. Shigo was a tree biologist and pathologists with the USFS known for his seminal work A New Tree Biology (1989), which covered topics of anatomy, patholiogy, and culture of trees.

Chapter 41 of this book addresses the topic for which I have named in this post, “Wound Dressings”. Shigo speaks in this chapter about how wound dressings are a very human solution to a non-human problem. We treat our own wounds with ointments, tinctures, potions, and bandages, so why would we not do this to trees? “The major problem in this entire area is the lack of understanding about trees” says Shigo, and unlike bandages, wound dressings in trees are generally never removed.

A foundational scientific work which began to elucidate the realities of wound dressings came from Shigo and Shortle, “Wound Dressings: results of studies over 13 years” (1983). This study examined the application of wound treatments to a few different tree species, followed by a dissection and analysis after some time when infection had formed. The authors argued (as shigo notes in his book) that most studies examining the influences of wound dressings use no controls and dissections whatsoever, and fewer still conduct studies which last more than just a few years. The main finding being that no treatment consistently out performed the control in terms of the prevention of decay. That is, no wound treatment reduced decay more than simply doing nothing at all, and in many cases, the extent of decay following treatment were even worse.

In his book, shigo explains that as time went on to 5 and 7 years, longer than most studies at the time, those trees which looked good in years 1 and 2 had more decay than controls. Later they learned as well that although dressings could superficially reduce the discoloration of wood following infection, what is actually occurring is that you are limiting the tree's ability to respond to the infection. Further, dissections demonstrated that discoloration and infections tended to really only be superficially, extending only into the branch transition zone, a few inches deep into the tree, something missed by previous studies which did no deeper digging inside the trees.

There is simply not a good reason to be painting wounds on trees[1], when the biology of a tree naturally build defenses when woulds are present. Putting something additional on top of that wound only serves to inhibit the formation of a tree’s natural mechanism of defense. When you apply a wound dressing, you sway the conditions inside the tree towards the pathogen's favor. You create a moist and sheltered environment that helps infections thrive.

Shigo and Shortle end their paper with something of a plea:

It is time to start a new direction with many tree care practices. New tools, new problems, new political pressures, and new information make it necessary to adjust many practices that were developed when conditions were different. […] New emphasis must be focused on the tree. If trees are well understood, then the ways to help them stay healthy will also be understood. Ignorance is our main problem.

The authors go on to say that there are basically 3 groups of arborists when it comes to improving their practice:

Group I will continue to make adjustments based on new information. Group II will consider the new information and begin to make some adjustments. And, group III will not understand what is happening because they will be out painting wounds.

It seems to me, some things never really change.

[1] Recent research shows that oaks are the exception to this rule, where painting the wounds of an oak if it must be cut during oak wilt season reduce the chances of oak wilt infection the tree.

This is how my trees were delivered today. Thank you, FedEx.

The granny apple tree is completely broken into two pieces.

The weeping willow is bent and broken.

Can I save them? Will they still grow?

My local park had this little sickly ginkgo tree growing. Quite a random tree to find here in a urban park in Hertfordshire UK. (But Im a horticulturist and spotted it on my dog walks).

Anyway we recieved notice they were building flats on the plot of ground it was growing on and I asked if I could rescue it.

Sure enough today the manager emailed to tell me it had just been dug up and I could go collect it!

So now I have a project - trying to keep this alive and make it happy.

Im going to pot it up tomorrow and overnight I'll keep it in a tub of water. Or maybe wrap in wet newspaper??

This tree is about 7 years old. From a propagation of my grandmas tree that got struck by lightning.

I don’t mean taking it out of the ground, I’m thinking more like taking some part of it and planting it/grafting? It at my new home.

I know nothing about the process of that, or the tree species 🤷‍♂️ Would love some input, it’s my favorite tree and I’m really sad to have to leave it.

Thanks

Does anyone know what is causing this on my oak tree in CA? Black tar substance

Let me start this off by saying, having multiple pawpaw trees is going to greatly improve your chances of pollination which of course leads to better fruit production. But it's false when most every grower, nursery, landscaper, etc. claims that you must have multiple trees with different genetics in order to get fruit. Different genetics is also not required, they can be clones.

They are self compatible and you can absolutely get fruit by just having a single tree, no other pollen or ovaries required! However, this is where it gets tricky. Essentially, flowers on the trees have the female reproductive organs mature first, and the flowers take some time for male reproductive organs to mature. But by the time the stamen holding pollen matures, the female ovary had closed. Every flower on the tree is either female or male at the same time, so you can see how it's very difficult for self pollination to occur.

Now pawpaw aren't typically pollinated by the bees and butterflies we often think of in our flowers. Beetles and flies are attracted to that foul smelling flower. These types of pollinators aren't moving as much as bees and butterflies, with beetles often hanging out on the same plant for days.

So, imagine you're a beetle on a pawpaw. You go into a female flower day 1, obviously you have no pollen on you. Day 2 the flowers switch to male and you get some pollen on you while you're having your nectar lunch. Day 3, the old flowers have shriveled up but new females have opened for you to move into and pollinate. Therefore, they're absolutely self compatible, just extremely difficult. Then you factor in wind, rain, vibration, etc. knocking the pollen off of its carrier.

Some pawpaw growers will actually self pollinate their flowers using the same q-tip day after day Loading it up with pollen to be used once female flowers emerge.

There's also an issue with pawpaws colonizing. What looks like what may be a forest of pawpaw could just be one tree with many suckers. This is where I believe the different genetics myth comes from. All those trees would be the same plant having the same chemical reactions internally to focus on female or male flowers.

Now they typically recommend to get 3 pawpaws and I completely agree with that. Because, what if you have 2 separate trees both with mature male stamen on the same day? You're stuck in the same boat. It could still happen where all 3 are male at the same time but the chances are less likely.

In conclusion, it's still best for you to have 3 different pawpaw trees, just not for the lies that gardener is telling you.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259547184_The_evolution_of_alternative_mechanisms_that_promote_outcrossing_in_Annonaceae_a_self-compatible_family_of_early-divergent_angiosperms

Every Fall my Witch Hazel bifurcates its leaf color. One side bright yellow, and the other side orange/red. Do you suppose this was due to a grafting?

PNW. We bought this Blue Giant Sequoia in December. It was indoors until a couple weeks ago when I put it out front for more sunlight. It’s been raining off and on but no more nights below 34F. Is it beyond saving? We bought it with plans to plant it on our property but thought we could manage it until we were ready. Should we consult the nursery we bought it from? First time with a tree and we are feeling so discouraged.

Sub-headline: Controversial 2025 study “represents the encroachment of pseudoscience into the heart of biological research.”

Hi all! I don’t know if this is a germane question for the sub, but my mom is getting ready to sell her house. My parents have lived here since 1996, and some family friends planted this tree after my dad‘s passing in 2012 with some of his ashes. It sounds stupid, but I am very attached to this tree. Can people move with a tree? It hurts my heart to think about not having the tree that is literally growing from a piece of him, or thinking about the possibility that it would be removed after the sale. If there is a way that I could even move a piece of it and have it continue to grow at wherever they move to next, any advice would be appreciated. I love this little tree. The neighborhood is undergoing redevelopment, so we would just sell the lot at a teardown price, so we don’t have to worry about keeping the yard pretty. Thanks in advance for any advice.

I love this maple, a 50ft maple. What can I do to make sure it's survives?

what is it? It's growing on my live oak. I noticed 2 of them last evening while arranging some Halloween decor. And what should I do? Thxs.

This White Oak has likely been bent over like this for longer than many of the people reading this has been alive. It likely bent over from growing too quickly trying to outcompete other trees combined with strong winds. It has compensated by forming tension wood. You can notice this when you cut through trees and limbs that are growing at an angle like this.

As far as a concern for falling at this point goes, this tree only tells us the direction it's going to fall. Meanwhile, a tree growing straight up is more unpredictable as it has 360° of failure.

https://hos.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/reaction-wood.shtml

We have bought a house with a massive weeping elm in the back yard. It's circa 100 years old. What if anything do i need to do to care for such a magnificent tree? Do i get an arborist to asses or just leave it alone?