Oak trunk chop

[dodienewman]

Recently my husband and I purchased several 9-11' tall trees (1 Coastal Live Oak, 2 Valley Oaks, 1 Multi trunk Crepe Myrtle) in 15 gallon nursery containers. We are unsure when is the best time in Northern California to chop the trunks? How much vegatation needs to be left off in order to maintain the tree and push back budding lower on the trunks?

 

[Zach Smith]

Ideally you'd want to chop just before the buds are ready to swell in late winter. As for how much vegetation to remove - not sure exactly where you're going with this question - your trunk chop needs to be low enough to build suitable taper and movement as the tree regrows. Make your cuts straight across, not angled, and seal the chops!

 

[BrianBay9]

I've done some similar chops with coastal live oaks. If they are healthy and you leave any green at all you will be rewarded with plenty of new buds. I'm a bit more conservative with valley oaks, and have no experience with crepe myrtle. I have done sealed and unsealed cuts and seen very little difference. Sealed is a more conservative choice though.

Adding your location would help provide more accurate advice.

 

[dodienewman]

We live in Sacramento, California. I was asking about what time of year is the best time to chop the trunk? How many branches / leaves must remain below the chop, if any to maintain viability?

 

[justBonsai]

My experience is only with coast live oak and cork oak so what I say may not be applicable to valley oaks.

Oaks can backbud well but timing is important. As Zach said typically late winter is the best time. You could do an early-mid summer chop after the tree has lignified spring growth and produced energy for a few months. These sound like big trees so they should have plenty of stored energy post chop to backbud.

It is always safer to cut back to existing growth/branches but I've chopped to bare trunk on oaks before. Usually if you see any old branch stubs or nodes growth will be generated out of there. Oaks typically don't bud inbetween node sites but I've still had some show up on a healthy tree I cut back hard.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce