Q: My red oak is about 10 years old. Some of the leaves are starting to look distressed, so I looked closely. I noticed small red ants climbing up and down the trunk, almost as if they are harvesting ...

Waiting until the leaves drop in fall is a rule of thumb for pruning shade trees, mainly because you can see bare limbs better, and the job is less “messy” without leaves attached to the cut branches.

The fallen leaves and cool temperatures are all signs it’s safe to prune oak trees in Michigan. Oak trees can be infected by the oak wilt fungus if they’re pruned anytime between April 15 through July ...