Weeping Willow Age, Prune or Remove

[Bart_]

If I omitted it, one poignant moment was simultaneous fence crush, 15' cedar crush and deck railing clong. 2nd last cut he made.

 

[Stumpsprouts]

If I omitted it, one poignant moment was simultaneous fence crush, 15' cedar crush and deck railing clong. 2nd last cut he made.

Hat trick!

 

[Barc Buster]

If I omitted it, one poignant moment was simultaneous fence crush, 15' cedar crush and deck railing clong. 2nd last cut he made.

A good tree man is a good fence man

 

[Bart_]

Post factum update. The willow dropped its leaves to reveal ridiculous amount of sprouting at the cuts, like brush bristles. Adjacent neighbours knocked off the whole top of their willow leaving only the trunk. It died. A couple of data points.

 

[Daniel]

Post factum update. The willow dropped its leaves to reveal ridiculous amount of sprouting at the cuts, like brush bristles. Adjacent neighbours knocked off the whole top of their willow leaving only the trunk. It died. A couple of data points.

I have grown to appreciate the value of a heavy reduction pruning for structural integrity. When done well, the trees survive storms with little or no damage for many years, and ins some cases decades. Of course, there are far too many variables to add here.

When going really hard to severely limit the chances of storm damage, rather than do it all at once, I think the tree handles it much better if the reduction pruning is done in stages. When you slam the whole tree, it's going to freak out and push out enough new sprouts to make it look like it's growing it's own shrubs up there. Looks like shit..

When done in stages, the tree handles the hits much better. Don't be in a hurry. Slow it down from human time to tree time. Hit 1/4 to 1/3 of the canopy every 2-3 years and see how she responds.