Around the Homestead Podcast Tree Care and Maintenance – Part 1 Transcript 1 00:00:13,790 --> 00:00:20,660 Welcome to around the Homestead podcast, where we share information on topics from gardens to goats, 2 00:00:20,660 --> 00:00:29,330 our aim is to provide small farmers and landowners valuable education on projects that may arise around the homestead. 3 00:00:29,330 --> 00:00:34,460 Whether you have been on the homestead all your life or you had just began the farm lifestyle, 4 00:00:34,460 --> 00:00:39,440 we hope you garner helpful tips to make your lifestyle most rewarding. 5 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:49,150 Now here are our host Brad McGinley and Shaun Rhoades. Well, hello and welcome to the round, the Homestead podcast, 6 00:00:49,150 --> 00:00:55,570 it's been good to be with you today as we've been off for a while, but we're back and strong here. 7 00:00:55,570 --> 00:01:01,090 This is Brad McGinley, County extension agent in Grant County. And I've got my co-host with me. 8 00:01:01,090 --> 00:01:04,180 Shaun Rhodes is over in Scott County. 9 00:01:04,180 --> 00:01:15,760 And Shaun, you know, it's that time of year where we're thinking about starting to prune trees, and it's about that time to think about that. 10 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:24,940 Yeah, it sure is. We're already down through January here and going to be February before long time to get started on. 11 00:01:24,940 --> 00:01:32,050 Some of them actually went on and made a few tree calls already in the new year. 12 00:01:32,050 --> 00:01:36,100 So what's already on people's mind, right? Yep, it sure is. 13 00:01:36,100 --> 00:01:42,340 And to discuss that today, we've got a special guest here that Mr. Carol Guffey here with us today. 14 00:01:42,340 --> 00:01:52,690 He's a retired extension forester, and he retired and to my county, so we snatch him up and put him back to work as a master gardener volunteer. 15 00:01:52,690 --> 00:01:57,820 So Carol, we appreciate you being with us today. I enjoy being here. 16 00:01:57,820 --> 00:02:03,190 All right. Well, Carol, you know, it's that time of year like Shaun and I talked about, you know, 17 00:02:03,190 --> 00:02:14,660 people thinking about pruning or planting trees and what's the, you know, question we get all the time is what's the best time to prune a tree? 18 00:02:14,660 --> 00:02:23,200 Well, kind of the. I guess the answer that most professionals give is it's best to prune when to solve sharp. 19 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:27,460 So basically, you can prune any time of the year, but actually, you know, 20 00:02:27,460 --> 00:02:34,780 if I had to pick them up and and if I did my own pruning or doing my own pruning, I try to do it in February. 21 00:02:34,780 --> 00:02:42,100 I mean, that's kind of the best term. The the trees are starting to do a little grow with the roots and stuff are starting to grow. 22 00:02:42,100 --> 00:02:46,240 And so if you prune it, then it's it's still wintertime. 23 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:51,760 We don't have a lot of disease spores that are floating around. 24 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:55,330 And so the tree gets a chance as soon as it starts growing and spring, 25 00:02:55,330 --> 00:03:00,520 it gets a chance to start trying to seal off those wounds that we create, which that's what a prune is. 26 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:09,080 It's actually a wound. And so that gives the tree that this whole growing season to kind of seal that off and and. 27 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:14,510 Get ready, you know, to maybe prevent rot from becoming established. 28 00:03:14,510 --> 00:03:21,320 Sure, sure. So, you know, I guess we need to kind of start off with the basics here. 29 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:26,200 What's the purpose of pruning what? Why do we prune in general? 30 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:30,070 Well, that's really a good question, because a lot of people, it's just like, oh, well, it's February, 31 00:03:30,070 --> 00:03:36,100 I got a prune and you know, you really you need to have a reason you don't have to prove in every year. 32 00:03:36,100 --> 00:03:41,260 You don't have to burn a tree every year. So you need to look at it and have have a reason in man. 33 00:03:41,260 --> 00:03:46,870 But some of the major reasons are for the health of the tree. 34 00:03:46,870 --> 00:03:52,960 If you're talking about fruit trees, pruning for fruit production is important. 35 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:57,400 And then also seemed like every year we have storms that go through. 36 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:02,320 So if you have storm damage, that's a reason to prune. 37 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:10,540 And also, if if you have limbs on trees that are dragging you off the lawn mower and things like that, you know, that's a reason. 38 00:04:10,540 --> 00:04:15,280 I mean, get it where you can get in there and do your maintenance on your yard. 39 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:22,150 So again, you need to have a reason. And any time that you do that, we do start pruning. 40 00:04:22,150 --> 00:04:27,460 We have a few things we won't do. First of all, we won't take out any dead wood, any dead branches. 41 00:04:27,460 --> 00:04:29,860 You always take those out when you do pruning. 42 00:04:29,860 --> 00:04:36,190 If you have broken branches, you want to take those out then and then if you have two branches that are ribbon against each other, 43 00:04:36,190 --> 00:04:41,140 that's just creating an area where decay can become established. 44 00:04:41,140 --> 00:04:45,740 So we want to take out one or two of those branches, you know, if they're rubbing. 45 00:04:45,740 --> 00:04:51,020 So that's something any time you prune, you always want to look at those three things. 46 00:04:51,020 --> 00:05:00,710 OK. That's that was good. Yeah. You know, there's nothing more frustrating than trying to mow and under a tree and knocks your head off or whatever. 47 00:05:00,710 --> 00:05:06,790 You know, I usually go grab my chainsaw at that moment. Time just wouldn't take care of it at the best. 48 00:05:06,790 --> 00:05:12,950 That's frustrating. So let's talk about some proper, proper ways to prune, you know? 49 00:05:12,950 --> 00:05:17,930 I mean, back in the old days, I can remember my grandparents and things like that. 50 00:05:17,930 --> 00:05:22,880 They would just come in there and top a lot of trees, and that's really not the way to do things. 51 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:29,990 And so talk to us a little bit about the proper pruning techniques. 52 00:05:29,990 --> 00:05:40,150 OK. There. I guess one of the hardest things to describe to people is is where to make a cut on a on a limb. 53 00:05:40,150 --> 00:05:43,780 But if what we want to do, what we call it is the branch collar. 54 00:05:43,780 --> 00:05:49,810 If you look at a limb and almost trees, you'll see where it comes out from the truck. 55 00:05:49,810 --> 00:05:56,320 It's pretty big. And then you go just an inch or two or three, depending on how huge a limb it is 56 00:05:56,320 --> 00:06:02,200 And then you have a substantial reduction in the diameter. That's what we call the branch collar, 57 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:09,970 and that's where you want to make the and cut this beyond that just after the after that limb drops in in diameter. 58 00:06:09,970 --> 00:06:18,070 That's what we want to make our final pruning cut. But normally we don't make that all in one cut unless it's a very, 59 00:06:18,070 --> 00:06:23,260 very small branch that you can hold in one hand and clip with your clippers in the other. 60 00:06:23,260 --> 00:06:28,390 What we usually recommend is a is a three step three cut method. 61 00:06:28,390 --> 00:06:34,660 So again, we find out right past that branch color. That's where we want to make our final cut. 62 00:06:34,660 --> 00:06:42,400 We'll go down the limb away from the trunk of the tree a certain distance, maybe, you know, a foot or so. 63 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:46,210 And our first cut is actually going to be on the underside of the branch. 64 00:06:46,210 --> 00:06:55,450 And while we do, that is to prevent if you if you start at the top of the branch and cut down on a lot of trees before you get the cut made, 65 00:06:55,450 --> 00:07:00,670 it'll strip down and you've all seen that and we've seen that on damaged trees, too. 66 00:07:00,670 --> 00:07:07,420 And the worst thing in the world is if that strips all the way back to the trunk, because then you have the trunk exposed. 67 00:07:07,420 --> 00:07:12,310 And that's a very high potential to get decay established. 68 00:07:12,310 --> 00:07:19,900 If you do a proper pruning cut, you're probably not going to affect the tree as far as the trunk part at all. 69 00:07:19,900 --> 00:07:23,200 The the limb is almost it's kind of odd the way 70 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:26,950 Trees grow, but the limbs almost a separate entity from from the trunk. 71 00:07:26,950 --> 00:07:31,450 So if we make a proper pruning cut, we don't have that problem. So again, 72 00:07:31,450 --> 00:07:37,660 our first cut is underneath and then we'll go just maybe a half after an inch further 73 00:07:37,660 --> 00:07:43,180 down the limb past that undercut and make a make a cut that goes all the way through. 74 00:07:43,180 --> 00:07:48,330 What will probably happen is it'll break out right there. At first cut, we made the undercut. 75 00:07:48,330 --> 00:07:56,830 Then you have a limp stub. It's maybe, you know, six inches or a foot in diameter and you've taken all the weight off that limb. 76 00:07:56,830 --> 00:08:03,010 You know, if you're if you're talking about a 10 foot long limb, you know, it could buy several pounds, maybe hundreds of pounds. 77 00:08:03,010 --> 00:08:10,000 So we've taken hold that all. Now we can go back to our branch collar just past the branch collar and make our final cut. 78 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:18,480 And again, that. Right there at branch collar, that's where the tree has all the mechanisms to see all that any any wound off. 79 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:19,890 So that's where we want to make it. 80 00:08:19,890 --> 00:08:28,860 And then we again, we've prevented the stripping of the bark down to the trunk, which is again the major, the major problem. 81 00:08:28,860 --> 00:08:33,480 So that's that's if we're taking a branch off. 82 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:38,100 At the trunk now, we're just taking a part of a branch, all you know, 83 00:08:38,100 --> 00:08:46,230 if the branches 10 foot long and we only need to take about five foot of it off for whatever reason, or that's where the damage was. 84 00:08:46,230 --> 00:08:51,280 What we want to do is come back until we find. 85 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:56,440 Another branch that's at least a third of the size of what we're taking off. 86 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:00,640 So if we've got a three inch branch, we're taking off, you know, diameter. 87 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:09,010 We want to come back to one at least an inch. And if we cut it just past that, then that branch will take over. 88 00:09:09,010 --> 00:09:14,770 And and the tree will will seal off the wound and the growth will go in the direction of that. 89 00:09:14,770 --> 00:09:20,230 So you can actually direct, you know, we're talking about the the lawnmower issue, you know where you're mowing under it. 90 00:09:20,230 --> 00:09:27,880 If you come back and cut to a branch that's pointing upward, the next that will force the growth. 91 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:29,170 That's where the growth will go. 92 00:09:29,170 --> 00:09:35,920 If you cut back to branches growing downward again, you're just, you know, next year you'll have to come back because it branches. 93 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:43,600 That's where all the direction is. The growth is. So again, we can kind of direct our growth depending on where we train. 94 00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:49,230 So we can we can grow it away from where it's becoming a problem. 95 00:09:49,230 --> 00:09:54,810 And again, that's that gets back to the topic, so if you need to take, you know, some larger branches, 96 00:09:54,810 --> 00:10:03,660 if they're starting to impact a house or, you know, something like that, now it's impacting a paralyzed, you don't want to mess with it. 97 00:10:03,660 --> 00:10:09,270 I mean, that's that's where you bring in the professionals because, you know, people get killed doing that. 98 00:10:09,270 --> 00:10:14,610 So but if it's starting to impact your house or or some other, you know, 99 00:10:14,610 --> 00:10:22,740 for some reason you're trying to reduce the height of the tree, you want to make sure that you come back and cut it by that branch. 100 00:10:22,740 --> 00:10:25,350 It's at least a third to size. Otherwise, 101 00:10:25,350 --> 00:10:35,520 what's going to happen is that entire branch will start to die from the inside when when decay becomes established and the tree will go ahead, 102 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:41,310 put on growth on the outside. But if you think about like a PVC pipe, you know, in a few years, that's what you've got. 103 00:10:41,310 --> 00:10:46,230 You've got a hollow branch with a lot of growth on the outside. And so that becomes a problem. 104 00:10:46,230 --> 00:10:49,470 But if you're if you go back to a branch, it's at least the third. 105 00:10:49,470 --> 00:11:00,720 The size, that's the direction the tree will grow and in the decay will probably not become established and the tree will do all right. 106 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:10,730 Is there a certain amount of canopy, you know, like we really need to do a hard prune on a tree or something? 107 00:11:10,730 --> 00:11:18,680 Is there a certain amount of canopy that you should stop at or is there there a guide like how much you can prune off of the tree at one time? 108 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:26,870 Yeah, that's that's a great question. We try not to take off any more than twenty five to twenty five to a third. 109 00:11:26,870 --> 00:11:31,250 You know, twenty five, thirty percent of the of the canopy at any one time. 110 00:11:31,250 --> 00:11:34,370 So if you've got a tree that you haven't done anything with, 111 00:11:34,370 --> 00:11:42,140 or maybe you just bought a farm and you're moving out there and the trees hadn't been maintained, especially like fruit trees, 112 00:11:42,140 --> 00:11:50,540 things like that, you can't do it all at one power, so don't take off any more than than 25 percent or so a year, 113 00:11:50,540 --> 00:11:54,980 because if you do, then you can stretch the tree and then you can kill trees. 114 00:11:54,980 --> 00:11:59,840 And that's that's another reason we don't like toping if you just come in and round off a tree. 115 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:07,910 I have seen that numerous times, especially large, beautiful shade trees in your yard. 116 00:12:07,910 --> 00:12:10,640 They'll go under stress, and a lot of times they'll die. 117 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:20,010 And so again, what we want to do is is take off about 25 percent and and then come back next year, you know, and take off a little bit more. 118 00:12:20,010 --> 00:12:24,110 You know, if it's something that hasn't been taken care of, you can't you can't do it all at once. 119 00:12:24,110 --> 00:12:31,370 So. So try not to remove any more than 25 or 30 percent of the of the crowd at any one time. 120 00:12:31,370 --> 00:12:37,910 You know, if we do that top in like we you know, we see several times, you know, not only. 121 00:12:37,910 --> 00:12:45,050 And if they do survive a lot of times, we, you know, we have some structural issues that that can arise from toping trees. 122 00:12:45,050 --> 00:12:53,300 Is that correct? Yeah, that's true. That you know, what happens is if you if you just cut olive branch off at any, 123 00:12:53,300 --> 00:12:57,350 any location, then there's not again, we don't go back to the to the branch. 124 00:12:57,350 --> 00:13:04,160 It's at least a third the size of what we remove. That tree is stressed and it if something's wrong. 125 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:10,520 So it has mechanisms, you know, to regrow branches and all up and down the trunk and limbs of a tree. 126 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:18,980 They have hidden birds that are just sitting there waiting for some type of damage so that tree thinks, Oh, you know, I've got my limb cut off here. 127 00:13:18,980 --> 00:13:27,560 I'm losing chlorophyl, you know, I don't have the surface area, the leaves that I can, but I can produce food so it will shoot out. 128 00:13:27,560 --> 00:13:32,510 So you start out with one branch that you just cut off, you know, at a at a bad location, 129 00:13:32,510 --> 00:13:39,950 you're going to end up with five or six sprouts at the end of that and that, you know, it's going to be all right. 130 00:13:39,950 --> 00:13:48,230 I mean, it's going to put out a lot of surface area leaves. But what happens is we were talking about earlier when decay becomes established, 131 00:13:48,230 --> 00:13:54,650 you're talking about that PVC pipe that hollow on the inside and only outside. 132 00:13:54,650 --> 00:13:56,850 You have all this. 133 00:13:56,850 --> 00:14:05,730 Flush of growth, it's starting to create weight, and these lambs are expanding every year, so they may be in five years, they may be 20 foot long. 134 00:14:05,730 --> 00:14:13,620 And again you have you've lost the structure of that. So that's just waiting, you know, that's the one that falls on your truck, you know, 135 00:14:13,620 --> 00:14:18,570 in the middle of the night or during during the windstorm or the ice storm. 136 00:14:18,570 --> 00:14:24,810 You know, that's that's the problem. So if you already have that, then you have a lot of issues. 137 00:14:24,810 --> 00:14:31,050 You have to come back and fix it. If you inherited, you know, you bought your farm and and somebody came in, you know, 138 00:14:31,050 --> 00:14:38,070 before you bought it and dropped the shade tree there in the yard where you've got a lot of issues that you're going to have to work to correct, 139 00:14:38,070 --> 00:14:43,560 correct that, you know? So again, topping is bad. 140 00:14:43,560 --> 00:14:49,980 And if it gets to the point where the tree is impacting power or something like that, 141 00:14:49,980 --> 00:14:53,940 it may be it may be a better option to remove the tree and plant a tree. 142 00:14:53,940 --> 00:14:58,740 That's not going to be such a hindrance, you know, in the future. 143 00:14:58,740 --> 00:15:03,240 It always amazes me, Carol is there. 144 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:12,700 There's people out there that take take quite a bit of money, just top big old trees, and it just kills me when I see it done. 145 00:15:12,700 --> 00:15:18,000 Well, Shaun, you know, because like I say, I'm in tree care professional. 146 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:25,110 I think I mean, I did a lot of training of tree pruners and some of the people that do land pruning and stuff. 147 00:15:25,110 --> 00:15:36,420 But if if I was looking, if I needed a tree pruned and I looked in the if I didn't know anybody and I looked in the phone book again, 148 00:15:36,420 --> 00:15:44,070 you know somebody to come out and look at my tree. If they advertise tree topping in their advertisement, I would never call them. 149 00:15:44,070 --> 00:15:50,160 I mean, tree topping is I mean, that's one of those things Joe's got a chainsaw so that in a ladder. 150 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:55,140 So that makes him a, you know, a tree care professional. He's got it on the side of his truck, says Joe Tree Care. 151 00:15:55,140 --> 00:16:03,390 And yeah, you know, lawnmower repair. Well, those are the kind of people they make and take down a tree if you need one to take it down. 152 00:16:03,390 --> 00:16:12,960 But I would. I would never have those people work on a tree because again, topping is not a profession, a professional activity. 153 00:16:12,960 --> 00:16:17,760 So, you know, that's like if you're looking for a doctor and he advertises using leeches, 154 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:22,410 you know, that's probably I probably wouldn't go to the him if I had some kind of issue. 155 00:16:22,410 --> 00:16:26,610 Yes, it's one of those red flags. So again, something to think about. 156 00:16:26,610 --> 00:16:30,090 I'm not saying that all of them do, but if they advertise topping, 157 00:16:30,090 --> 00:16:38,080 that's not something that in the tree care profession is as used to the thought of highly. 158 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:46,600 So again, but it's just. My personal opinion, if it hurts my feelings, well, I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is. 159 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:53,610 Yeah. You know, that's a good point, because, you know, it's it's quite expensive to take out a tree big tree, 160 00:16:53,610 --> 00:17:00,390 like if you have a tree up next to your your house or something and you need to take that sucker out. 161 00:17:00,390 --> 00:17:05,850 You're talking, you know, thousands of dollars in expense at some. 162 00:17:05,850 --> 00:17:10,440 Sometimes you get that tree taken out. So those are all good points. 163 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:14,460 And is there anything else you would recommend if somebody is going to call a professional? 164 00:17:14,460 --> 00:17:23,400 What what kind of questions they should be asking before they let somebody come out and start taking a tree down next to their house or something? 165 00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:31,980 Well, you know that that's a good point, and that's something that I stress a lot when I do used to do homeowner programs and Master Gardener 166 00:17:31,980 --> 00:17:38,280 programs just you always want to make sure that they are licensed and that they're insured, 167 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:43,560 not license, that they're bonded and insured. We don't have a tree licensing program in Arkansas. 168 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:48,810 But the bonding means that if when they're cutting that tree next to your house, 169 00:17:48,810 --> 00:17:52,770 if they drop a big limb on your house, their insurance company pays for it. 170 00:17:52,770 --> 00:17:58,800 If you just get Joe from across the road with a chainsaw and he cuts a limb on your house, then you're going to have to pay for it. 171 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:05,850 And you know, your insurance company may not be too happy with the fact that you cut a tree on your own house. 172 00:18:05,850 --> 00:18:09,780 You know what? 173 00:18:09,780 --> 00:18:15,930 That's a little scary, but the scariest part of that is if they're not insured and it's your it's on 174 00:18:15,930 --> 00:18:21,570 You as a homeowner its on you to check and make sure don't just say, accept their word. 175 00:18:21,570 --> 00:18:29,880 I mean, check it because if they fall off of that tree and break a leg or break their back or something and they're not insured. 176 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:35,910 Guess who has to pay for all their doctor bills that's used the homeowner, so that could be scary. 177 00:18:35,910 --> 00:18:39,930 I mean, if somebody's, you know, falling out of a tree is a bad thing, 178 00:18:39,930 --> 00:18:50,940 but you know you having to pick up what could be thousands or hundreds of thousands of doctor bills would be a very, very bad thing. 179 00:18:50,940 --> 00:18:59,010 So again, make sure and again, I know most people are honest, but if they if they're actually insured, 180 00:18:59,010 --> 00:19:02,400 they're proud of it because they're paying for that and it's expensive. 181 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:08,970 So they'll give you their insurance company and the number and you call in and check and make sure that but that insurance is up to date. 182 00:19:08,970 --> 00:19:16,170 And if it's not, even if it's, you know, your best friend, don't let them up there because again, 183 00:19:16,170 --> 00:19:22,220 if they fall out of that tree or they fall that bucket truck or and get injured. 184 00:19:22,220 --> 00:19:29,990 You don't want hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of doctor bills that you will have to pay for. 185 00:19:29,990 --> 00:19:34,640 That's good points, I really had never considered that part of it. 186 00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:39,280 I would just always thought about, you know, somebody drops a tree on your corner, 187 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:45,440 your shed or your house or something I never thought about because they are dealing with a lot of, you know, equipment. 188 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:55,070 And that brings up, you know, if you're going to prune a tree yourself, you know, what kind of equipment would you recommend for for homeowners? 189 00:19:55,070 --> 00:20:03,590 Well, you know, you said earlier about cranking up your chainsaw if you need to crank up a chainsaw, all you've waited too long, you know? 190 00:20:03,590 --> 00:20:05,690 I mean, the problem has gotten too big. 191 00:20:05,690 --> 00:20:17,510 But for most people, homeowners using hand saws, and if you have a good set of bypass burners, that should be what most of your pruning is. 192 00:20:17,510 --> 00:20:22,160 If you have to crank up a chainsaw again, you've waited too late. 193 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:27,470 I mean, it could be a point where you have some storm damage or something that comes through. 194 00:20:27,470 --> 00:20:31,150 But again, if all your pruning is done with a chainsaw, 195 00:20:31,150 --> 00:20:36,740 you know you're probably you're probably letting things go too long before you before you fix them. 196 00:20:36,740 --> 00:20:41,900 And I guess one of my big pet peeves is if you have to get a ladder out, 197 00:20:41,900 --> 00:20:48,230 you need to hire somebody else to do it because that's where 99 percent of accidents happen to homeowners. 198 00:20:48,230 --> 00:20:59,150 If you have to get on a ladder to prune a limb, you're that's something that we never, ever do in in the tree care profession, you know? 199 00:20:59,150 --> 00:21:03,050 So don't get your 20 foot letter out and put it on side of the tree, 200 00:21:03,050 --> 00:21:07,520 because if you don't believe me, though, you got to do is go to YouTube and look at tree pruning. 201 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:11,600 And that's that limb, that big limb that you could help up there. 202 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:17,690 It's going to take that letter out from under you and then you're 20 feet up in the air, either hopefully hanging out of the tree, 203 00:21:17,690 --> 00:21:23,510 but waiting on somebody to come your neighbor to come across the road, put the ladder back up. 204 00:21:23,510 --> 00:21:29,900 But in most cases, it happens so fast that your own degree of looking up and wondering what happened before it's over. 205 00:21:29,900 --> 00:21:35,210 So again, never use a ladder if you have to use a ladder. 206 00:21:35,210 --> 00:21:40,670 You probably need to hire a professional and let them come in with a with a bucket truck. 207 00:21:40,670 --> 00:21:45,230 Of course, you know they have pole saws and things like that that you can do from the ground. 208 00:21:45,230 --> 00:21:49,520 But if you have to get a ladder out, don't do it. 209 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:54,390 Well, it's mainly when you crank the chainsaw up, it has a little bit of revenge factor in there. 210 00:21:54,390 --> 00:22:02,480 You know, it's if you're going at full speed on the lawnmower under the tree and limb whacks you in the face 211 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:12,950 and just what you know white red hot rage just overcomes you and you just grab the nearest chainsaw to whack it off 212 00:22:12,950 --> 00:22:19,820 you know? Well, that's probably a pretty good place to start right there for today. 213 00:22:19,820 --> 00:22:26,030 We've had a great discussion with Carol about tree pruning today here on around the Homestead podcast. 214 00:22:26,030 --> 00:22:32,210 He'll be joining us over the next couple episodes, and we'll be talking about shade tree selection and planting, 215 00:22:32,210 --> 00:22:40,850 as well as some common tree issues diseases, insects, those kinds of things that we've seen as we've made some homeowner visits over the years. 216 00:22:40,850 --> 00:22:48,980 In the meantime, we have a lot of great resources on our website, which is uaex.uada.edu. 217 00:22:48,980 --> 00:22:54,530 There you can search around the homestead. You can find that'll take you to our web page there. 218 00:22:54,530 --> 00:22:59,240 We've got this episode plus upcoming episodes and previous episodes posted, 219 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:05,090 as well as we'll post with with some more posts, some resources about tree care pruning. 220 00:23:05,090 --> 00:23:10,880 With this episode, but there's a lot of great information on our website. I encourage you to check that out. 221 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:16,940 But in the meantime, we have we wish you luck in your tree pruning and tree planting endeavors. 222 00:23:16,940 --> 00:23:25,790 And we'll see you around the farm. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Around the Homestead podcast to learn more about today's topic. 223 00:23:25,790 --> 00:23:31,940 Be sure to visit our website at uaex.uada.edu 224 00:23:31,940 --> 00:24:53,249 Be sure to join us next time on around the Homestead podcast.