Don't try to change the pin oak's shape by pruning.
The pin oak (Quercus palustris) has a characteristic shape. It has a long central trunk. Its upper branches always lift to the sky. Its middle branches extend more or less horizontally from the trunk. Its lowest branches always droop toward the ground. The pin oak's shape is usually described as pyramidal or sometimes as conical. The unique angles of its branching and the presence of many pins --short stubs on the trunk -- are reliable clues to its identification.
A pin oak tree will do its best to maintain the characteristic shape of its species. If its lower branches are removed, the next branches that are lowest on the trunk will gradually begin drooping toward the ground. For this reason, pin oaks are not very good for planting along narrow streets or in parking lots.
I hate to see a pin oak that's been deformed by excessive pruning in an effort to keep its lower branches from drooping into human zones. Here's an example of what I'm talking about -- a much abused pin oak that grows in a field of asphalt near the Bradford Square Mall in Hopkinsville, KY.Why don't landscapers think about the size and shape and spread a tree will have in maturity when they plant it? Thinking ahead would be so much better than spending years fighting the natural tendencies of a tree. Just my opinion.
Photo of pin oak in winter provided by Robert Underwood.
"The power to recognize trees at a glance without examining their leaves or flowers or fruit as they are seen, for example, from the car-window during a railroad journey, can only be acquired by studying them as they grow under all possible conditions over wide areas of territory. Such an attainment may not have much practical value, but once acquired it gives to the possessor a good deal of pleasure which is denied to less fortunate travelers."
3 comments -- please add yours:
I think pin oaks are beautiful as well in thier natural shape. Its a joy to watch those leaves shimmer in the wind!
I totally agree. :)
In a nearby town, there are pin oaks planted roughly every 50 feet on both sides of the main street for maybe 2 miles. The plop-plop of the acorn shower in October is glorious. The trees are not yet tall enough to hit the phone and electric wires, but when they do, they'll be butchered by the utility companies.
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