Timbo, i can tell you right now your dieback problem is directly related to those ugly, vertical trunk splitting chops. a clean cut makes all the difference, but also, take notice of old budding points on the tree/stump. it has to have somewhere to die back to. think of a plant cell as a microscopic water-ballon, try to pop as few as possible below your cut by whatever means necessary, across the entire diameter of the cut, it must be extremely clean across the whole thing, not just 3/4. its like if you pick a scab, and rip off a bunch of live skin, now you just made another bleeding cut and another wound all together. give the tree one wound, as small as possible, to focus on scabbing up. this is also true for roots.also, play close attention to the immediate weather, very important when collecting in the spring. temperature, humidity, wind, precipitation, cloud cover. feb/march to me might be march april for you. i know sorce' focus' on the moon, which I like, but similar to hunting and fishing, the primary factors to predicting mysterious creatures movements in nature is the immediate weather, trust me on this. moon phase is only a secondary consideration with minor implications in comparison to immediate/forthcoming weather conditions.
