Quote:
Originally Posted by Underwor  What are your thoughts about leaving a long stub, so that the tree will start to compartmentalize near the proper place for a cut, while the entrance for pathogens is still a long distance away. The theory is that this starts the process while the pathogen is a long way from the tree's heart so to speak, then you cut off the stub. It also makes the proper place to cut the stub easier to see, since the remaining stem will have started to grow around it in a year or so, leaving a very definite ridge. |
It would be good to get comparable pics on the same tree, one cut to target straight off the other a year later then disect it 5 years later and see the difference. The difference neasuring the internal into the stem.
If indeed the heartwood is not resupplied and what is there does the work then there'd be little if any difference IMHO.
It's not as though the heartwood is gaining anything in the next year as far as decay resistance is it?
However the cambium would perhaps be given either another season to grow or die, but that would be one season less in closure.
I'll take it as a theory at this stage till I see supportive evidence. I understand the merit but I have cut off many dead stubs where the bark has had to grow along rather than around, not much else achieved. If the stub was like 2' away then the target cut is pretty much a fresh cut as it would have been in the beginning. If the stub cut was closer like 6" away then the target cut reveals a semi decayed heartwood cut.
In my pics you'll notice some where dead stubs remained.
Subordination over time of a co-dominant stem can turn it into a collar, but that would be a long slow process.