Showerthought: Are we too quick to top trees or not quick enough?

I keep seeing this split in the field. Some guys I talk to say topping is a hack move that messes up the tree long term. But then I see old oaks that got topped 20 years ago and they're still standing fine, no rot, no failures. Meanwhile I had a client last month who refused topping on a big maple near his house, and a limb came down in a storm last week. Hit his shed. So which is it? Are we overthinking this or are people just getting lucky with bad cuts? I know the textbook says don't top, but real world results vary a lot. What do you guys see more often - topped trees that die young or ones that outlive the homeowner?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencer1991mo ago

Too quick to top trees" sounds like a bad pickup line.

derek_dixon781mo ago

Spencer beat me to the funny comment but that split you're seeing is real. I think the people who say topping always kills trees are only looking at textbook cases. I've got a row of silver maples on my street that were topped 15 years ago and they're still throwing out new growth every spring with zero rot where the cuts were made. Meanwhile I've seen a perfectly pruned red oak split in half during a dry summer storm because of a hidden crack. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Good cuts in the right spot on the right species can last a long time but bad topping on something like a birch or a beech is basically asking for a slow death.