I was contacted by someone having one of their trees pruned in their backyard and she told me one tree company said they would “spike” the tree while another said they use ropes to climb the tree. She wanted to know if it matters which method is used?
I told her that it certainly does matter. Climbing “spikes”, “spurs”, “gaffs” or “climbers” are steel shanks that are kicked into the tree by a climber to assist them in moving around and remaining in trees. These methods put holes through the bark of a tree and do a great deal of injury to the delicate structures beneath the bark.
Disease, wood decay fungus and insects can then attack a tree through these wound sites and do further damage. For these reasons the ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) as well as our very own CTPA (Connecticut Tree Protective Association) considers it unethical for climbers to spike trees unless they are being removed. The preferred method for pruning a tree is to use ropes. Through various equipment and knots a climber is able to move up or down the rope and move around the tree crown without damaging the tree. Rope climbing, the technique used by professional arborists, requires much more time, equipment and training than spike climbing. Spike climbing, due to its traumatic nature, is not an acceptable method for tree maintenance or a means to achieve long-term tree health.
Brad Durfee,
CT Licensed Arborist S-4283
Senior Arborist
Sprigs & Twigs, Inc.
http://www.sprigsandwigs.net
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