Eastern Redcedar Mal-Pruning

Posted April 24, 2025

Published: May 2, 2025 Posted by: Randy Cyr Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Eastern RedCedar

I’m in the mood to blog about some common issues with eastern redcedars (Juniperus virginiana) that my client inherited. Although our company no longer prunes trees, I wanted to share some useful tips for those dealing with similar pruning and vulnerability issues.

Eastern Redcedar thrives in various conditions in the eastern USA. Although slow-growing and sometimes considered a nuisance shrub, it can become relatively large, offering light-blue berries for wildlife and greenery in winter. Its wood is decay-resistant, aromatic, moth-repellent, and varies in color from yellow to red to purple.

Several attractive wood products are made from this tree. When I owned a tree removal service in North Carolina, I used to give away large, 2-inch cross-sectional cuts of the trunk of large cedars to homeowners to put in the bottom of their closet. Some homeowners have whole closets made of eastern red-cedar.

The lower multiple trunk

The remnants of the orange gelatinous apple-cedar rust infection (orange arrow) is what initially brought me to this tree. It looks worse than what it is and is already clearing up.

This stub cut, part of what we call mal-pruning, marked with a white ‘x’, about 3 inches beyond the branch collar (yellow arrow), is what really caught my attention. This stub cut allowed decay fungi to gain a foothold and spread several feet towards the ground (white arrows). The previous owner painting this cut green did not prevent or slow decay.

What’s really needed is proper pruning cuts or what we call natural target pruning. Proper pruning helps compartmentalize wounds (C.O.D.I.T.), while stub and flush cuts can cause decay to spread throughout vulnerable trees. This tree also has multiple trunks, or called co-dominant trunks/stems, rather than a single trunk, which is structurally superior.