Videos from Ricky Folse
Tree Messiah on YouTube
Pull up a stump.
Ricky Folse takes you onto real job sites in South Louisiana to show how old live oaks get diagnosed, treated and saved, and which everyday mistakes put them at risk. Every video from his channel is here, with the key moments marked.
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18:08
Episode guide
Every Episode.
Five videos so far, from a two-minute field clip to full site visits. Tap a time stamp to jump straight to that moment.
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Episode 1Loving Live Oaks
Pruning and Preserving a Prize Live Oak
The series opener. Ricky clears out a water oak and a cedar that are crowding a property’s prize live oak, then shortens its overextended limbs with Dr. Ed Gilman’s prescription pruning method so the canopy fills in evenly and holds up better in high winds.
Key moments
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Episode 2Loving Live Oaks
Saving 200-Year-Old Live Oaks
A local veteran asked Ricky to keep his old live oaks healthy for generations, including one estimated at more than 200 years old. Ricky air-spades the root flares, cuts out girdling roots, injects his “tree gumbo” of soil biology and lays whole-tree wood chips, explaining why mulch volcanoes, raked-up leaves and lawn grass work against old oaks.
Key moments
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Episode 3Loving Live Oaks
This Beautiful Live Oak Was Struck by Lightning
Bark is splitting off a live oak in several places. Ricky diagnoses a lightning strike, explains why the wood-boring insects that followed are a symptom rather than the cause, and lays out the plan to rebuild the tree’s own defenses: tracing the wound, a nitrogen-free soil injection and six inches of wood chips.
Key moments
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SpecialCajun Bayou Live Oaks Series
Saving Historic Live Oaks with Dr. Malcolm Guidry
Ricky brings in his mentor, consulting arborist and Korean War Navy veteran Dr. Malcolm Guidry, to walk a historic live oak grove and check his treatment plan. They cover soil biology, why live oaks are forest trees at heart, whole-tree mulch versus the bagged kind, and what biochar does for the soil.
Key moments
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Field clipCajun Bayou Live Oaks Series
Tree Bracing Done Wrong?
In a centuries-old live oak grove in Raceland, Ricky points out a brace under a heavy, overextended limb that was installed the wrong way, and explains what a proper system needs under ANSI A300 standards: a solid foundation in the ground and a cradle that lets the limb move.
Key moments
Moments worth rewinding
Rewind That.
Lines straight from the videos. Tap one to play it from the second Ricky says it.
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7:53Episode 2
“What do you prefer more, your grass or your 300-year-old tree?”
On lawns under live oaks -
2:02Episode 3
“The insect is a secondary factor. It is not the primary cause of what’s going on with the tree.”
On borers in a lightning-struck oak -
3:56Episode 2
“It almost becomes like a fuel filter. If a fuel filter’s clogged, no fuel can get to the engine.”
On compacted soil -
1:15Episode 1
“Reducing, not removing.”
On Dr. Ed Gilman’s prescription pruning method -
12:22Episode 2
“Looks are one thing, but the health of the tree is another.”
On planting under old oaks
That’s a wrap
Pull Up a Stump for the Next One.
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