Stumbled on a study that says topping trees actually makes them more dangerous in the long run

I found a report from the International Society of Arboriculture that claims topped trees grow back weaker and are 40% more likely to fail in storms, so I'm starting to rethink all those quick height reductions I used to push on clients.

2 comments

2 Comments

west.henry10d ago

That 40% failure rate sticks with me too. I remember topping a big maple for a customer back in 2010, and three years later half of it split off in a spring storm and landed on their shed. I felt terrible about it. After that I started reading everything I could find from the ISA and realized all those quick fixes I had been doing were actually making things worse for the tree in the long run. It's a hard thing to admit when you've been in the trade for years and have to change your whole approach.

olivia_allen10d ago

west.henry's right, once you know better you can't unsee all the bad cuts out there.