Unpopular opinion: the 3-point cut is overrated for most pruning jobs

I used to follow the 3-point cut religiously on every single branch removal, even tiny ones. Took forever and honestly I think I was doing more damage than good on smaller limbs under 2 inches. Last spring I started just using a clean single cut with a sharp handsaw on anything under that size and the trees healed way faster. My mentor called me lazy but then he saw the callusing on a crabapple I did two years ago. The 3-point cut has its place on big heavy branches sure, but for routine thinning I think we overcomplicate it. Has anyone else gotten better results ditching the notch on smaller stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

stellanelson10d ago

On a 3 inch limb my old notch job left a worse callus than a straight cut.

reesel5010d ago

Hang on, you're telling me a notch job on a 3 inch limb actually made the callus worse? I've always heard notching helps the tree seal up the cut better, but you're saying it backfired on a branch that small? That sounds backwards from everything I've seen. Man, I would've figured a straight cut would be the one to leave a mess, not the other way around. You got any pictures of that callus?

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