TIL a homeowner tried to tell me how to prune their oak without any clue what they were talking about

I was out in Evanston last week on a 40 foot red oak, deadwood removal and some crown cleaning. The owner came out and said I was cutting too much and that I should shape it like a lollipop because their neighbor's tree looked nice that way. I had to stop and explain that oaks don't heal like that and taking off healthy lateral branches would stress it out for years. They kept arguing for 10 minutes until I showed them the decay on a cut from some hack job they had done 5 years ago. Has anyone else had a customer try to override your cuts based on what looks pretty rather than what keeps the tree healthy?

2 comments

2 Comments

ellis.jennifer23d ago

Oh, good grief. Did they actually think lollipopping a 40 foot red oak was a good idea? I have to ask - what did you end up doing after showing them that rotted cut from their own handiwork? Did they finally back down, or did you have to walk away from the job?

andrewh9523d agoTop Commenter

Yeah but sometimes the homeowner knows the tree better than you give them credit for...