Pro tip: don't buy the $89 "tree paint" kit from the trade show booth, I learned that one the hard way

Jordan Coleman · 2026-10-14T19:45:06.707681+00:00

Three years back I was walking the floor at a trade show in Columbus and this guy at a booth was demoing a pruning seal kit he swore would cut my wound care time in half on big removals. It came with a fancy sprayer, a gel, and a little torch thing, and it ran me $89 after he knocked $30 off because I paid cash. I used it on a red oak removal for a client out in Dublin and within two weeks the cut sites were dark and weeping, way worse than anything I get from just making a clean cut and walking away. Turns out most of what he was selling was basically fancy latex, and the ISA has been saying for years you should skip wound dressing because it traps moisture and can seal in decay. I ended up going back to a sharp saw, a clean undercut, and a good pruning cut at the collar, which is what my old mentor showed me back in the day when we did everything by hand. Lost the $89, plus about four hours of re-work and a very awkward phone call with the homeowner. Has anybody else gotten suckered by one of those booth demos, and if so what was it?

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Pro tip: don't buy the $89 "tree paint" kit from the trade show booth, I learned that one the hard way | Arborists - Discusd