Thinning As A Standard Pruning Recommendation

Frax

Frax

Participating member
Location
Expat now in Chapel Hill, NC by way of Calgary, Al
How do you or the company you work for see thinning as a pruning prescription? Is it routine for you? With or without designated percentages.

I could be wrong as I so often am, but it seems to me - or is it true? - that the large tree companies who operate along tightly managed guidelines and procedures may include thinning percentages (thin 20%, 30% etc etc) as part of regular tree maintenance.

For me this is unusual. We rarely prescribe thinning. We do prescribe structural pruning or corrections which may involve thinning, but we don't often state it as thinning.

Perhaps it is a regional thing. Our trees are possibly sparser than in lusher climates. Also, at our altitudes sun is intense and we avoid exposing thin-barked trees to excessive sun.

What is normal for you? You may the one creating the work order or the one fulfilling it. For me it might be both. I rarely prescribe thinning.
 
I guess it depends on what the definition of thinning is? We typically prune the four D's, and in many cases we thin the tree (remove green growth) to accomplish a specific objective the client wants done.

For example, they may want more sun on their garden below the trees or they want to top the tree to make it safer, so we thin and do end weight reduction instead. In my experience, thinning the tree combined with weight reduction on extended branches or 'heavy' branches can reduce the sail effect for the tree and allow wind to move through the canopy better. You can really feel the difference when the work is done, the way the tree moves.

jp
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It's prescribed on my work orders. I treat it as discretionary most of the time unless I'm specifically instructed to do so. Though thinning definitely has its place on the work order from time to time, I am not a believer in prescribing it as maintenance across the board.
 
We thin mainly for light penetration to understorey, homes, thick obtrusive trees and shrubs to expsoe architecture etc.
Thinning is probabley last on the list in our recommendation.Usually enough gets pruned out when all the crown cleaning and training has been completed.
 
Only when really needed......and 15 percent or less. Usually only for structural purposes in combination with subordination of weak co-dominate stems. Never for light penetration......It's much better to raise when you need light for lawn/plants.
 
Jon's right about the definition--there is a move afoot to do away with the term altogether.

There is a concurrent and more reasonable imo move to get rid of "heading cut", which is even more ambiguous, and misleading.

Raising without thinning above seldom achieves the goal of greater penetration (that's what he and she said) of the crown by air and light. Raising alone is known as "giraffe pruning". In many cases the client and I prefer reduction and thinning above, and preserving the lower tier of branches.

Specs vary widely based on scope and objective.
 
I am most of the time impressed when I see pruning jobs done by whomever in my area. I see more damage by pruning in pics on here. Not to say I haven't seen some hack jobs. But they're usually from a time when topping was more acceptable. We don't have enough pruning going on. But I am sure if it got popular it would get ugly.

I myself don't prune big wood unless it is damaged. And mostly prune over long periods of time. I don't usually get to green wood (other than stuff in my way) for years.

Trees grow leaves for a reason is a good philosophy to begin with.
 
Nora,
You put a smile on my face.. so sweet and innocent..

the tree service chains thin for the $$$... They gotta keep those boys busy..

Mostly high end clientele of course.. fancy trucks can't sit idle..

Big John used to work for a company that would prune the same trees on a 6 month schedule for some clients... If he was cabling, he wasn't allowed to get the deadwood while he was there.. that had to wait another 6 months, for the next scheduled maintenance..

I thought that was overkill, but he insisted it was what the customers wanted... That was before the recession
 
There has to be a reason to make any cut in the tree. Including deadwood.

Cutting live wood just to justify the appetite of the chipper is hack work. The measure of good treework isn't from the size of the pile of brush. If so, the company is run by woodbutchers and I use the term 'butcher' in a disparaging way. I don't mean to besmirch the honorable profession of meat shop butchers.

Like others have said, the canopy will get 'thinned' enough with routine work. Why cut off the food factory?
 
Coder once explained the importance of interior foliage; that part of the tree photosynthesizes more midday, when the outer crown shuts down. Overthinning = gutting.
 
It's hard to get passed entrenched practices. As stated above usually it's structural pruning when general pruning is ordered. For light penetration, I try to work from the outside to inside maintaining a balance between the two. I could recommend that in Toronto to our client base but here in Jersey most get a glazed look in their eyes and only want you to elevate for light.
 
A lot of our clientel want/expect full sunlight underneath their trees and forested estate properties so they can enjoy the sunshine or plant more flowers, grass ect. It is often difficult to educate them otherwise. It's worse when they want a heritage tree removed completely for the sole purpose of having a complete lawn covered in turf. I dont understand why they would want 80 years of growth permanently destroyed or disfigured. Dont get me started on people with pools.
 
Yeah, I agree.....I really don't care much for lawns. That said I do a lot of work golf courses (S. Lilly has a great publication on course tree maint) and raising is the only way to keep grass living under canopies. Thinning doesn't work for this because any shade thin or dense has about the same effect on turf. Conversely raising gives longer periods of sunlight even if it's only early morning or late afternoon. Anyway I don't like raising either unless the tree is being slowly phased out or being shaded out by other better trees. :)
 
There are ways of thinning lower limbs to get nearly the same effect of increased light to the turf, without totally stripping every lower limb or leaving large wounds on the trunk, even of that means drastically reducing lower limbs..

One of the benefits of lower limbs are that they shade the root zone and trunk.. nice to keep that in mind.. you can get plenty more sun, enough to grow grass under a tree while still keeping the hot sun off the trunk and hopefully not too much on the root zone. I would guess that irrigation makes a difference.. Shade on the root zone may not be as important when its getting watered..
 
Yeah I know and the lower limbs also increase trunk taper, etc,etc. Again I dislike turf but it needs long period of light. Short bursts of light hrough a thinned canopy for 5- 10 minutes won't allow turf grass to photosynthesise it simply shuts down until it gets prolonged light
 
[ QUOTE ]
Nora,
You put a smile on my face.. so sweet and innocent..


[/ QUOTE ]

U think?!

You said what I didn't say out loud, but suspect anyways. Those of you who work for the big companies...can you answer to that?

I agree with you on the importance of root zone shade, at least with many of teh trees we have here.
 
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