Topping, Pollarding, or what??

[climbingmonkey24]

Looked at these trees this morning.

Client wants to cut the growth back about to where the bigger main branches end. You might be able to tell it has been done before.

Instinctively my first thought is “topping”but I also know that aggressively pruning like this is a technique some people use.

As far as I know, the client used to cut it back themselves but hasn’t been able to because it’s gotten to be a bit too much. So my question is, is this something you’d do or do you think it has gotten too big for that kind of pruning to actually be beneficial.

They also said that they want to make the trees shorter to hopefully make them become more wide…

 

[climbingmonkey24]

 

[Muggs]

Pollarding is very species-dependent as far as how they respond and tolerate it. That almost looks like a Norway Maple?

 

[climbingmonkey24]

Pollarding is very species-dependent as far as how they respond and tolerate it. That almost looks like a Norway Maple?

I believe it is a Norway maple.

 

[ghostice]

When pollarding perhaps advise HO that they're pretty much buying into a yearly or bi-annual thing if they want to keep the height down (say for sun). This growth is big enough it should be chainsaw-able to form a "knuckle" eventually with continued pruning. I've seen cuts done down to some small stubs and also right down to growth collar, but I wouldn't make any flush cuts. Alternately (in Europe) I've seen the pollarded trees trained into long upright growth seemed like over years of pruning, to where the "shoots" are about the same height as the trunk. Assume this was done to limit width of the tree in a municipal setting.
And species do differ in their tolerance to pollarding/ coppicing but since you're presented with the thing in the first place it's a toss to me. I've seen pollarded green ash and they're thriving, but typically it's done here on willows and such. Just my two cents though. Cheers.

 

[climbingmonkey24]

How maple would respond to having that much growth taken off was another consideration I had.

 

[climbingmonkey24]

From what I read researching online, pollarding a norway is generally discouraged for a variety of reasons.

 

[Mick Dempsey!]

They’re not ideal pollards, but ok.
Just cut them back to the pollard head, chip it, collect the chèque and on to the next one.

 

[climbingmonkey24]

Thanks for the input.

I ended up bidding it because there’s also some other work included, but I wrote in the estimate that performing this type of pruning on maple isn’t common and that there are potential risks to doing so to cover myself. And also that if we were to do it, it would require recurring maintenance for it to be effective long-term.

 

[Matias]

Thanks for the input.

I ended up bidding it because there’s also some other work included, but I wrote in the estimate that performing this type of pruning on maple isn’t common and that there are potential risks to doing so to cover myself. And also that if we were to do it, it would require recurring maintenance for it to be effective long-term.

Did the idea of removing and replacing it ever come up? I know it's the less appealing option in the short term, but will be a solution that will probably save them a lot of money in the future.

 

[Brando CalPankian]

Recommend a 1-3 year pruning cycle and some growth regulators. Is the other work cyclical?

I'm not against pollarding when it's maintained.

 

[Matias]

I just know how few pollards I have seen around here that actually get maintained. People tend to go 10-15 years between cuts around here, and often they just get topped back to below the original cuts, especially mulberries, but I see this on a lot of sycamores, maples, oaks, you name it...
It's not uncommon for it to be the recent purchaser of the home who has it retopped, as they just spent too much on the house and want this tree cut because their insurer demands it.

 

[Serf Life]

One cut prune, or pollard it every yr before seeds are made!

 

[climbingmonkey24]

One of the reasons I was willing to quote it is because the tree has already somewhat been trained for this. I think the lack of maintenance recently might’ve been due to physical limitations or it just becoming too much. The clients are older…

So it’s a little different of a situation than someone calling because they want their 100 ft pine knocked down to 50 ft and then are going to call you back when it rots out and is too dangerous to climb.

The other work is just pruning another maple to remove a branch growing towards a neighbor’s yard and deadwood, and they have another property where they may want to remove a tree. These smaller projects might not seem worth it to some but pruning is a primary focus of mine and something I really enjoy doing. The job is also less than a minute drive from where I’m based out of lol, one of the neighboring streets across from mine.

If we are pruning with a purpose then I can feel better about it, regardless if I’m the one who does it again or they try to do it themselves or whatever.

The idea of removal and replanting did cross my mind. Depending what their response is to the written estimate I sent which included some of the things discussed here, I may mention it.