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Hot take: That homeowner who 'helped' me prune their oak actually made it worse
Last spring in Columbus, a guy kept telling me to 'take off more branches' while I was up in his 60 foot red oak. I finally stopped and asked him if he'd like me to just leave the tree in better shape than when I started. Has anyone else had a client who insisted on bad cuts and you had to draw a hard line?
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nancyjones1mo ago
Respect the tree's natural shape, but more than that, respect the homeowner's budget and safety. I've seen this same pattern pop up everywhere, not just with trees. People want to rush things or take shortcuts, whether it's painting a room without primer or skipping the foundation work on a deck. They don't see the long term consequences until the paint peels or the deck starts sagging. Good work takes time and the right cuts, no matter what you're doing. A bad cut on a tree opens it up to disease and weak limbs that can fall later, and that's a hard line worth holding.
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Wait, you mean the homeowner actually told you to take off MORE branches? That's nuts - usually they're begging you to leave everything on because they think bigger means safer. Sounds like you handled it right though, stopping and making it clear you weren't gonna butcher the tree just to please him.
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harper9141mo ago
Yeah that's exactly it! People think bigger branches mean a stronger tree but they don't realize how much weight and wind resistance they're adding. I had a customer once who wanted me to leave a huge limb that was clearly dying because he liked how it looked. Took me half an hour to talk him out of it. A bad cut is permanent, you can't undo it.
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