Trees are resilient and will comfortably tolerate certain acceptable forms of pruning,

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Here are the ones you REALLY want to avoid.

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Topping

Topping removes excessive amount of live green tissue (live wood and foliage) your tree NEEDS to survive and thrive. That new flush of growth that you were promised will happen later? That's the tree trying to recover all of the living tissue it lost! And no... that is not healthy!

The tree just used a ton of resources it did not have to expend.

 

Get ready to call your tree guy every year to maintain its shape or otherwise it will now grow at faster than normal rate with weakly attached branches.

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Lion Tailing

Lion tailing occurs when trees are excessively pruned to thin out the canopy, resulting in an imbalanced and top-heavy appearance. This practice removes too much of the interior canopy, leaving the tree vulnerable to various risks.

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Excessive lion tailing can lead to increased wind susceptibility, sun scald (sunburn but for trees), and a port of entry for insects and diseases. Even if lower branches are left intact while inner branches are pruned, it's still considered lion tailing and is never "healthy" for your tree.

 

Your tree will only look "thin" for that same year, then you'll get a bunch of fast growing water sprouts (suckers) along the trunk, and again you'll probably be getting this service in a yearly or biyearly basis to maintain this form. Remember, trees don't stop growing.

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Over pruning

Any pruning of live green tissue over 25%-30% in a single year will cause excessive stress on your trees. Trees don't heal, they seal wounds in a process called compartmentalization. Pruning limbs larger than 4" in diameter will be slower to recover. Plus removing multiple large branches this size will quickly add up to the 25%-30%.

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Ever seen huge holes in trees? Most likely what happened was at one point the tree lost a large branch and the tree was not fast enough to seal over and prevent decaying organisms.

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Consequences

The consequences are too many to name them all.

• The trees natural life span has been greatly shortened, to maintain the same form will now incur frequent service visits (more $$$)

• New growth will be weakly attached to the tree

• If the tree was able to tolerate the pruning (which is not healthy) the tree will grow at a faster rate to recover the loss of live green tissue

• Water sprouts (suckers) along tree.

• More dead branches on tree

• Higher risk of failure

• Higher susceptibility of disease

• Way to many but you can give me a call/email me if you would like to have a conversation about this, get a professional second opinion: (724)461-1483   nicetree@jptreepro.com

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We always encourage our customers to verify and review the scope of work your contracted tree service company will be providing.

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At JP Tree Care, we will ALWAYS, spend enough time with you to help you determine what the best approach is for your tree, that may even mean turning down a job if your tree does not need pruned or any service.