Topping Harms Trees

I like it!
Well done. How about a companion pamphlet for good pruning, same style?
 
Good piece of infomercial.

Not arguing one iota...but,

I topped the s@#$%t out of a snow load bowed river birch on the edge of our back meadow several years ago...looks like a nice tree today, after a bit of judicious post-topping pruning.

Just sayin'...there are few rules that are absolute.
 
Indeed, post storms etc., AND with the post topping care that you know it will need...but when people WANT you to 'just cut it there, all the way across' at least he'll have information to give out, to the folks who think its a regular method of tree care.

I just had to tip toe my way through a renovation prune for a very lovely lady who was extoling the wonders of the job the last person did, but the tree was just topped all over. I've had to diplomatically explain why its taking me a while to get through this job and why the tree sprouted 10 shoots for every one that was cut.
The person who did it is a mutual friend of ours, no need to be mean.
 
Nice layout and graphics! The content is very local and conifer-centric (no surprise given your name here). There are many questions about that definition of topping aka heading; see the Poll thread.

You might want to check out the work done with dougfirs etc. at washington state u by Nicho Dankers.
 
Burnham said:
Good piece of infomercial.

Not arguing one iota...but,

I topped the s@#$%t out of a snow load bowed river birch on the edge of our back meadow several years ago...looks like a nice tree today, after a bit of judicious post-topping pruning.

Just sayin'...there are few rules that are absolute.
Click to expand...
Quite So Burnham, I didn't want to be negative on the guys first post but you know, some trees can take it and come back great. If the situation (and the client) demands it, fine, sharpen your saw.
 
La becasse said:
Quite So Burnham, I didn't want to be negative on the guys first post but you know, some trees can take it and come back great. If the situation (and the client) demands it, fine, sharpen your saw.
Click to expand...

Right, and if the client wants it but the situation is wrong, then you find out WHY the client wanted that, and find a way to meet those needs without butchering the tree. aka Establishing the objective.
 
treelooker said:
Right, and if the client wants it but the situation is wrong, then you find out WHY the client wanted that, and find a way to meet those needs without butchering the tree. aka Establishing the objective.
Click to expand...

Yes, listen to the client, I often get the sense that people do too much talking to them and don't use their ears enough.

(I'll be honest, I was expecting more of a bollocking from you!):)
 
O, a bollocking (?) might have been viscerally satisfying, but finding common ground was more intellectually satisfying. The mind, like the ears, is a terrible thing to waste.
 
Bollocking: a really good telling off...Limey style. ;)

So true, to establish WHY someone wants something topped and then be able to guide them sensibly to the correct outcome.
I've said somewhere before, sometimes I'll say 'sure, no problem' when someone wants their tree topped, establish how high they want it and proceed to carry out a target prune, reduction prune, whatever and call it topping to satisfy their need to say they had their tree 'topped'. Usually the kind of person who just wouldn't or dosn't get it when you try to explain the difference, and wouldn't know the difference at the end of the job anyway., but loves how their tree looks when you are done.
Usually done on a tree that has lots of laterals and targets however.
 
Good client management, Fi! It's not like they're looking, or thinking, that closely.

Coniferae, you can listen to Nicho's strategy here: http://www.isa-arbor.com/education/onlinelearning/podcastDetail.aspx?ID=8&EP=827

If you missed him at PNW last year, too bad--he gives the best conifer pruning talk EVER!

Clients like a positive message--who wants to hear a plumber go on and on about how that leaky faucet should NOT be fixed?

Maybe a 2nd poster for a followup, with how-to?

re your poster; Removal and Replacement is NEVER the ONLY solution. The client decides, not the arborist. Overstating this option seems to oversell removal. If I was a tree owner I would wonder. Just saying.
 
Don't they call this same practice pollarding in EU?

Anyway, I won't do it, but my employer is bent on whatever the client wants. I refuse -and have him find someone on craigslist who will. Then we'll go in a circle and I tell him that the customer doesn't know better— and our job as professionals is to instruct them on the correct method. Then it'll go back to he doesn't care, he's getting paid— and I'll refer him again to the many climbers on craigslist who will.

And you know what, he has- twice. And I never take it personally. I will add though that I'm always called back, because of the attention and knowledge I bring to his business- and he acknowledges and appreciates this —and I like working with him.
 
Nooooooo!

Pollarding is not topping!

A pollard is done from a young age and is a system of pruning to a set point for many years. Swollen areas of starch accumulation develop and are called 'cat's heads', the cuts are made to this area on a rotation.
Pollarding does not employ indescriminate cuts to random areas of branches!
 
Excellent point Berm.

I read that there's documented evidence of pollarded tree species on old British estates outliving their wild un pollarded species in the wild.

There are wonderful old artistically pollarded trees in Europe all over, but scant few here in the US.

But there's another factor driving the topping that goes on in SoCal of particular tree species that get drowned in nitrogen fertilizer due to their proximity to someone's lush green lawn, that's watered every few days, on a timer.

Now Caffra coral trees would never need whacking in their natural setting in Africa. But put them into a high nitrogen high water environment? It happens every spring/summer here just like clockworki. We affectionately call it coral breakout time as hundreds of over fed corals on hundreds of commercial and residential properties fail in mass, and tree crews scramble to keep up with the emergency calls.

Veterans of this process avoid this happening to their clients by getting down right vicious with this species in those setting by whacking the snot out of them every six months. I prefer whacking one year, reduction shaping the next, then whacking again.

Jomo
 
Where I live, I get 5 requests for topping for every request for pruning. I myself don't do it. I also screen the potential customer over the phone. if they're dead set on topping, I decline. If they are requesting topping because they "think that's what it might need", I jump all over it and go try and sell a better solution. But, Ive really noticed around here when they are dead set on it, their mind wont be changed and going to their house is a waste of my time. They usually dismiss me as a dummie or a tree hugger when I do try and teach them.
 
Bermy said:
Nooooooo!

Pollarding is not topping!

A pollard is done from a young age and is a system of pruning to a set point for many years. Swollen areas of starch accumulation develop and are called 'cat's heads', the cuts are made to this area on a rotation.
Pollarding does not employ indescriminate cuts to random areas of branches!
Click to expand...
AKA; topping

Topping or Heading, is taking a branch back to a set point -and forgetting about it further.

The only difference with pollarding is it's managed every other growing season, back to the same cut. Tomāto - Tomäto
 
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