Crown Reduction vs Topping

 

If you subscribe to the "do no harm" principle suggested under "Pruning," you'll avoid tree topping all together.  Why? Topping most often kills trees. It leaves large open wounds. Pathogens are provided an entrance into the tree. In addition to this you only create more work and more expense for your customer because the "suckers" come back in such abundance, they'll be calling you back to top again and again. There simply is no acceptance of topping practices among any level of tree science/biology. Why not sell your customers on the professional solutions?  Crown reduction at a smaller spread and a smaller height is really the only way to go, short of removing the entire tree. And since topping kills trees, removing the tree maybe a better choice than turning it into a short-lived hat rack.  For attractive and effective crown reduction, avoid heading cuts; that is, never just lop off branches at a set height. Professional crown reduction uses "drop-crotch" pruning, in which you come down the branch to a fairly significant lateral branch that is not less than one-third the diameter of the original limb and make the cut there. This way, you reduce the height of the tree so it can recover because energy now goes into the lateral branch. The resulting wound will have a better chance of compartmentalizing and forming callous tissue if you do it where there is another lateral branch.   Top 10 Manmade Killers Here's a handy guide to keep with you when discussing projects with your arborist. It's important that arborists prepare themselves with factual and modern solutions (based on facts) to best serve their customers and patient trees.  The Top 10 Man-made Tree Killers Are:   1.   Soil compaction & root damage 2.   Topping & harmful cuts 3.   Over-thinning & canopy elevations 4.   Over-watering 5.   Neighborhood tree removals 6.   Planting too deep 7.   Wrong tree/wrong place 8.   Cambial injuries to the trunk 9.   Poor cabling & damage repair 10.   Over fertilizing or treating   Soil Compaction It's not common knowledge, but tree roots need air to survive. When the pore space around roots becomes so compacted the roots don't get air-(also inhibiting water uptake)-the whole tree can die. It's not always a case of trucks and heavy equipment causing the deadly compaction. It can also happen with foot traffic. A well-used footpath can be as hard as concrete. One of the best remedies for soil compaction is radial trenching and vertical mulching. Basically this involves drilling holes beneath the crown and filling them with mulch. This is an excellent way to uncompact the soil without damaging roots.  Soil compaction is a fairly common killer of trees and worth keeping an eye on.