PSA: My old boss told me to never top a live oak, and a job in Savannah last month proved him right.

The homeowner insisted on a 'round over' and now half the canopy is covered in epicormic sprouts... it looks awful. Anyone dealt with a client pushing for topping and how did you handle it?

3 comments

3 Comments

violatorres1mo ago

My first year in the business, I topped a maple because the guy said it looked 'scary'. The water sprouts were so bad it looked like a giant green pipe cleaner.

pat_schmidt601mo ago

Topping a tree is the worst thing you can do for its health. It creates those exact water sprouts you're talking about, making the problem way worse. That client was scared of a bad structure, but you just gave the tree a death sentence. Now it's weak and prone to breaking, and it'll need constant cutting to keep those sprouts back.

riley_west20d ago

Man my buddy runs a tree service down in Mobile and he had this exact thing happen last year. This older lady wanted her pecan tree "shaped up" and he tried to explain why topping is bad but she just kept saying she wanted it "pretty and round." He finally gave up and did it. Within two months that tree looked like a giant angry porcupine with all those sprouts shooting straight up. Now every time it rains hard he gets a call about branches snapping off and hitting her shed. She still thinks it looks neat though.