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PSA: an old climber in Eugene told me to stop deadheading my Japanese maple and I owe him a beer
Three springs back I was hacking away at a 15 year old bloodgood in a client's front yard in Eugene, snipping every little twig that stuck out, because that's what I thought a clean job looked like. This retired climber named Dale, probably 70, walks by with his dog and says, "You're cutting off next year's wood, son. Leave the tips alone." I nodded and kept going. Sure enough that fall the tree looked thin and pale, and the next spring it pushed maybe half the growth it should have. Dale saw me again last April and just smiled and said, "Told ya." Now I only touch the maple for deadwood and the odd crossing branch, and that thing has filled back in so thick the client asked if I fertilized it. Dale gets a six pack next time I see him. Any of you got a tree you learned to leave alone the hard way?
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