What has been done to these trees

[szophee]

Hi there

 

I'm new to the forum and am hoping someone can help me with a question.  

Some much-beloved trees in front of my house (pictured) have just been drastically pruned, and I am trying to figure out whether they have been pollarded or topped.  I've tried to read up on this but to my untrained eye it's hard to make the distinction.  I'm hoping that no damage has been done to them!

Many thanks in advance

 

Sophie

[Stubby]

Mullered !

[Steve Bullman]

More of a topping dressed up as a pollard.  Are they council trees?  Can't quite make out the variety?  It looks like they have been done before.  No doubt they will come back just fine

[szophee]

Thanks for your replies!

 

Steve, yes they are Council trees.   To my embarrassment I'm not actually sure of the variety but this is them pre-pruning (also without leaves).

I will hope as you say that they'll come back as before.

[Stubby]

2 minutes ago, szophee said:

Thanks for your replies!

 

Steve, yes they are Council trees.   To my embarrassment I'm not actually sure of the variety but this is them pre-pruning (also without leaves).

I will hope as you say that they'll come back as before.

Yes . You can see were they have been done in the past . The 2 to the left of the picture anyway .

Edited January 3, 2019 by Stubby

[Paul in the woods]

To my uneducated eye they look like sycamores. Sycamores (aphids on them) will drip sticky substances onto the cars in the car park so I would have thought someone has asked for them to be cut.

[szophee]

I think you are right Paul.  The seeds they drop look like Sycamore seeds.  

 

It's quite sad if this has been done for the benefit of someone's car.

[Squaredy]

2 hours ago, szophee said:

I think you are right Paul.  The seeds they drop look like Sycamore seeds.  

 

It's quite sad if this has been done for the benefit of someone's car.

Street trees are usually topped on a regular basis and can be very attractive managed this way.  I wouldn't worry they will be fine as Steve said.  This is the right time of year to do the work as they will re-grow spectacularly in the Spring, and in a year or two you will be amazed how healthy and normal they look.  Sycamore in particular will re-grow well.

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Hi, as others have stated, being Sycamore (if they are coz I can't tell for definite) they are a vigorous species and should respond / re-grow rapidly. However, with such 'heavy' pruning / cutting there is a possibility / probability that decay pockets will develop over time which may compromise the stability of the regrowth stems with age / size. Hence the norm is to repeat the exercise periodically, perhaps on a 5-8 year cycle, and also to keep the trees to the desired size.

 

Regards,

Paul 

[szophee]

Thank you everyone for your replies.  They are quite reassuring!  

 

I've lived here for about 5 years and this hasn't happened before, so I'd guess that the Council isn't doing this too regularly.