When to prune Red Gums?

1080

I have large red gums near the house!

Needing advice on there maintenance.

Main trunks approx 1.3 meters.....limbs to be cut 25cm to 35cm diameter.

I need to prune then! .....I think 2 of them have been pruned many years ago as they are multi limbed at about 1.5 meters.

1. When is the best time of the year to prune.....for best re growth.

2. What is best to put on cuts to help heal?

3. I can do it in stages if that would help.

Phil.

TrevMcRev

Hi Phil,

What is the purpose of the pruning?
What to you pecieve to be the problem as they stand?

You don't put anything on the cuts, the key is to make correct ones in the first place. Do you know how to make a correct pruning cut? If you are unsure you might want to get an arborist in.

If you are off the mark with any of the above you could well do more harm than good, and not solve the percieved problem at all, and create future ones.

Photos would help...lots.

1080

May be lop is a better word than prune.

1. Some of the branches are now entirely over a car parking area.......

2. As well as starting to go over my roof line......so it must be lopped

The 2 branches that are biggest worry leave the trunk at 45 degrees and are

approx. 35 & 25cm in diameter & meters in length. The tree is 12m from the

house.

3. Is there a time of the year that will give the River Red Gum the best

chance of recovery. Location is SW Victoria, Australia.

Apocalypsse

Lopping will make the problem far worse for the tree and possibly yourself. What council are you in? Check with council local laws about tree pruning, a River Red could be on their significant tree list which could mean big bucks in fines if correct procedures aren't followed.
We really need some pictures to give you the best advice we can. Without being able to see what we are dealing with we can't give the most accurate advice.

1080

Naaa it only a little one.....I'd say 50 to 70 years old

I've got others that have dropped limbs bigger than this trunk

Its only bout 1.3m in diameter at the trunk.....its been lopped in the

past.....I'd say when it spread out to this size & threatened the house.

Hence it's multi limbed @ 1.5m where it's been lopped before

It sure ain't significant......but I want it to branch up again as it helps with

shade & reduces wind on the Farm House.

Whats the beast time of the year to lop it??

Apocalypsse

No one here will recommend lopping the tree, it will make it worse. You need to do correct pruning cuts on the limbs you want to remove. 1.3m diameter at the base, do you know who planted it and when?
As has been said before, take a few pictures of the tree so we can give you the best advice and prevent you from damaging the tree any further than it has when it was previously lopped.

1080

I'II try to post a picture

Attached Thumbnails

 

Eric Frei

I cant see any lopping in that pic .... need another with whole tree etc.

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TrevMcRev

Sounds like you want what you plan to lop off to come back.
So i'm not quite seeing the sense in that...

The is no best time of year to do the wrong thing to your tree. See the contradiction in it?

Go deeper with your answers to my questions.

What is the percieved problem with it being over the carpark?

What is the percieved problem with it starting to go over the roof line?

Why "must" it be cut?

I'm looking for the REASON why you want to do this. The motivation behind what you think needs to be done. (I already know the answers though)

Thing is, you are most likely going about solving your problem in the completely wrong way. And won't achieve your goal in reality, though in your own mind you may be satisfied with the result only because you don't know any better.

If you have any kind of care for this tree, if you like having it in any way, and see value in keeping it, then there are other ways to go about this that will work. I assume you do or you wouldn't be here asking when is the best time to hack it. If you don't, just remove it. Provided that is ok with your local council, which in most this tree would need a permit to do either.

Eric Frei

1080,

Read this thread carefully.

Who are you going to call? Tree Busters!

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TrevMcRev

Exactly! I were going to link to that too.

Also..this one: Do Gums just drop branches? Sudden Limb Failure

1080

TrevMcrev
"Why "must" it be cut?"
Please explain to all....how to make this tree safe......in the circumstances I posted earlier?.....& vehicles parked under the limbs......the one going over the camera (in picture) & the one to its left ......can be guaranteed not to be damaged.....from either of these limbs dropping.
Same goes for the roof & guttering.......also my water quality will improve.....no town water supply way out here

Apocalypsse

You can't make trees safe, you can reduce the risk of failure, but given the right conditions something could fail. You can get an arborist to do a weight reduction over the area where the cars park and a property clearance from the roof to reduce the fire hazard and I assume by 'water quality' you mean leaves in the gutter.
May want to invest in some of that gutter guard stuff, can be a pain in the ass to install in some gutters but saves your gutters clogging up from whatever blows across onto the roof.

1080

I cannot fix " leaf guard " type screens to the gutters.......as the gutters fill

with pollen and stamen?? while the Red Gums are flowering......as they are

tiny

& go straight through the mesh...... gutter guard or similar are no good & only

make more work when cleaning gutters.....as they have to be removed

before gutter cleaning......and yes I only have tank water from the roof for

All my water requirements.