Dude makes tree look like his haircut

[Rocks_and_Trees]

[ QUOTE ]
We don't see it here in the midwest and if we do, it's called topping.

[/ QUOTE ]
lol. yup

 

[Jman]

I see pollarding a lot down in Va. They do it mostly on crape myrtles and there is a sycamore here or there that has it done. Its has its place.

 

[Colin]

About like those plastic pink flamingos, or lawn jockeys.

<font color="green">The TreeHouse</font>

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[stig]

It is easy enough to badmouth something you don't know or understand.
Topping is whacking off the top of a tree, any species, in order to make it take up less room. We can all agree on that being a bad practise, I think.
Pollarding is another thing altogether.
As far as I know, it has the same origins as coppicing, namely the desire to be able to "harvest" branches or small (very small) logs with short intervals. With coppicing, the branches were used for firewood, fencing materials etc.
Pollarding was done for another reason.
It dates back to before the advent of iron cheap enough to make the scythe an affordable tool for farmers.
Back then the only way to winterfeed animals, since you can't make hay without a scythe, was to cut leafy branches and dry those to keep for feed. Doing this annually leeds to pollarded trees.
Gerry Beranek is right about pollarding being done annually, since you need to harvest branches every year. Changing it to semiannually or every 3rd year is most likely a later development, since the original reason for doing it has changed.Today it is done to keep trees from getting too big, since pollarded trees will grow in diameter but not in reach.
Only certain species of trees will react positively to pollarding, attempting it on other species would indeed be "topping"
So pollarding is a VERY old tradition around certain parts of the world, just because it isn't done in the US, doesn't give you the right to arrogantly liken it to "plastic pink flamingos" .

 

[jim454]

Stig,

Is it me or does it just look wrong or unnatural?

 

[Colin]

[ QUOTE ]
So pollarding is a VERY old tradition around certain parts of the world,

[/ QUOTE ]

So is beheading, but I don't think that's gonna catch on anytime soon anywhere sane people reside.
Just because it's old doesn't make it right.

<font color="green">The TreeHouse</font>

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[Tom Dunlap]

Pollarding is NOT topping. Taking a bit of time with Google will give a good understanding of the differences.

Pollarding makes cuts at the branch collars, topping is random internodal cuts.

Pollarding is done routinely, generally every 1-3 years. This assures that there is still a trunk/branch relationship rather than a branch/branch or trunk/trunk relationship. Once the physiology changes the tree's response to cutting changes.

Pollarding, done properly, is a good practice. Unfortunately, there are very few people in the US who have any comprehension of how to do proper pollarding.

There are worse things done to trees. Wulkie posed a question a few years ago. He wondered if there was more overall damage done to trees by gutting/overpruning/lion's tailing/hyper-elivating by uneducated arborists.

 

[stig]

[ QUOTE ]


So is beheading, but I don't think that's gonna catch on anytime soon anywhere sane people reside.


<font color="green">The TreeHouse</font>

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Bad example,MB. My guess would be that to most people outside the US, beheading would seem saner than frying people in the electric chair. Smells better, too.

 

[MattP]

hay masterblaster we dont ''They love that in the UK!"" at all its!!! its total £hit!

you are always saying that us in the U.K love toping tree not true! i do crown reductions to growth points and do not top them ever!

so no one ever dose topping in the U.S hay? haha

matt

 

[Eric_E]

[ QUOTE ]
About like those plastic pink flamingos, or lawn jockeys.

<font color="green">The TreeHouse</font>

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[/ QUOTE ]

<font color="pink"> </font> speaking of pink flamingos.... <font color="pink"> </font>

 

[allmark]

[ QUOTE ]

Just because it's old doesn't make it right.

<font color="green">The TreeHouse</font>

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[/ QUOTE ] Hmmmmm.

 

[stevebullman]

everything else aside...how come the video quality is so good for a youtube vid i wonder

 

[CleanupPro]

I think that a lot of the difference between pollarding and topping of trees is what happens in the years following the original cuts. What is wrong with controlling the size of the crown of a tree. Granted one should not make excessively large cuts on most trees and not all trees will react well to this, but with enough care many things can be done which may not seem possible.
I like hearing the European perspective on pollarding. After all, they have been caring for trees since before America was colonized.

 

[Roger_Barnett]

Glad you two chimed in with a dose of reality about pollarding, stig and Tom. Thanks for the explaining the historical origins as well, stig.

Done properly, and maintained, it has its place....in confined quarters, as in much of Europe.