Topping with exprience

[Bermie]

[ QUOTE ]
I dont see how reducing that tree will help anything. It looks like it could have been thinned out. Will the tree not respond with a bunch of suckers everywhere you cut it?
Just curious.

[/ QUOTE ]

One = it will reduce the lever effect, look down at the junction of all the branches, there is evidently some decay there from the previous work. That's a potential failure point

Two = If the reduction cuts are made at an appropriate point, i.e. to a lateral that is about 1/3 size of the bit being removed, it is big enough to assume the apical dominance and hence will suppress MOST of the suckering around the cut. There will probably be some but not to the same extent as if it were topped. Hopefully there will be some flushing out lower down too. Species dependant of course, I deal with tropical trees so can't speak for yours.

 

[Mrsmorningwood]

I have folders in two different computers with examples of topping and lions-tailing.

This is the saddest. This picture was taken last Sept after a neighbor "pruned" a tree in our community. The owner was obviously afraid of this Live Oak over his roof.

It gets worse, waayyy worse!

 

[Mrsmorningwood]

A different company came in and did this just a couple months ago.

We were laying bets on "removal" or "reduction"...I won. It was a "reduction".

 

[Mrsmorningwood]

You can see the old topping cut on the left. That is actually the only part of this tree that has flushed any growth this spring.


Makes me sick. It's right at a prominent "T" intersection too!

 

[Colin]

It looks like someone's installing a pool.

 

[Tmannsclimber]

I have had to reduce tall what use to be sucker limbs off of topped silver maples quite a few times. These owners now realize how dangerous they made these trees now that they have a bunch of skinny tall limbs with very poor attachment points back over their house now after a topping job done years ago. Not to mention as they tree rots done from the wound created that will never go away. their tree steadly gets smaller every couple of years as the dead dangerous limbs show up as the tree rots down. I hate having to climb topped trees I dont trust the holding wood of the leads that have to be reduced that are next to the topped cut.

 

[Thillmaine]

Agreed, I did the same thign with my landords silver...remove 1/3 reduce 1/3 and leave one third..it seems to be yearly process though...pain in the [bad word]

 

[petegrisewood]

Wait a minute...
Please fill me in more - in fact might make a new thread.
Severe reductions in the heat of summer?

 

[guymayor]

late summer is a very good time to prune hardwoods.

nothing new there.