Tree Trimming: What NOT To Do

Don't Top Your Trees!

Why would you want this in your front yard?

Topping is the senseless practice of indiscriminately

removing a majority of a tree’s branches. Topping violates
most commonly accepted methods of proper tree
trimming; it is an assault on the health and beauty of your
trees.

Five important facts to remember about tree topping:

1. Topping will not make trees safe; it actually creates hazardous trees.
2. Topping makes a tree more susceptible to storm damage.
3. Topping makes a tree more prone to insect and disease problems.
4. Topping is: abuse, vandalism, dangerous, expensive, mutilation, ugly.
5. Topping is a waste of money.

Problems Caused by Topping:

 New growth is weak. At best, the wood of a new limb that sprouts after a larger limb is
cut is more weakly attached than a limb that develops more normally. If rot exists or
develops at the severed end of the limb, the weight of the sprout makes a bad situation
even worse.
 Rapid new growth. The goal of topping is usually to control the height and spread of a
tree. Actually, it has the opposite effect. The resulting sprouts are far more numerous than
the normal new growth, and they elongate so rapidly that the tree returns to its original
height in a very short time.
 Insects and disease. The large stubs of a topped tree have a difficult time forming a
callus. The terminal location of these cuts, as well as their large diameter, prevent the
tree’s chemically-based natural defense system from doing its job. The stubs are highly
vulnerable to insect invasion and the spores of decay fungi.
 Sunscald can occur. Bark tissues suddenly exposed to full sun may be burned and
develop into disease cankers.
 Starvation. Good pruning practices rarely remove more than 1/3 of the crown, which
does not seriously interfere with the ability of a tree’s leafy crown to manufacture food.
Topping removes so much of the crown that it upsets an older tree’s well-developed
crown to root ratio and temporarily cuts off its food making ability.

Call David Scalise at Power Ranch Arborists for a free consultation

today 480-797-7403 or visit our website at
http://www.powerranchtreeservice.com and fill out the information
on our contact page and we will call you!