Advice required on removing / topping.

[El Astro]

Hi everyone,

I have been lurking for a while and i am grateful to everybody that keeps this forum active!

Recently i have been approached by the owner of this restaurant to work on these trees.
They are poplars, most of them with some dead branches at the top and some (which you can't tell by the photo) have branches hanging over the roof and the outside seating of his restaurant. When they are green i think they look beautiful but i also think they pose quite some danger.
He spoke with the council that advised against removing these trees and planting new ones due to public opinion, being the alternative to top them at 8 meters high or so with maintenance required every 5 years or else they will become even more dangerous.

I would like to know what are your opinions on this as i am quite conflicted with the idea of topping.

[Steve Bullman]

Advises against removing them due to public opinion then recommends topping to 8m which will leave them looking like a right eyesore 🙄

Best to bite the bullet IMO and replant some something nicer. A topped Poplar is never going to be a nice looking tree again.

[Mark Bolam]

Nothing particularly wrong with halving them as long as he’s happy with entering into an ongoing maintenance cycle.

It would be topping, not a reduction.

 

Climbing the regen isn’t a great idea so I’d say you’d be more likely to have a 3 year cycle than 5 with poplars.

 

As Steve says, they won’t look particularly nice, and will rot at the topping points.

[Mark Bolam]

3 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

Advises against removing them due to public opinion then recommends topping to 8m which will leave them looking like a right eyesore 🙄

Best to bite the bullet IMO and replant some something nicer. A topped Poplar is never going to be a nice looking tree again.

 

Murderer.

[El Astro]

17 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

Advises against removing them due to public opinion then recommends topping to 8m which will leave them looking like a right eyesore 🙄

Best to bite the bullet IMO and replant some something nicer. A topped Poplar is never going to be a nice looking tree again.

I agree too, i think the public opinion is due to the fact of my geographical location where topping is considered ''normal pruning'' still.

 

16 minutes ago, Mark Bolam said:

Nothing particularly wrong with halving them as long as he’s happy with entering into a cyclical maintenance cycle.

It would be topping, not a reduction.

 

Climbing the regen isn’t a great idea so I’d say you’d be more likely to have a 3 year cycle than 5 with poplars.

 

As Steve says, they won’t look particularly nice, and will rot at the topping points.

Thank you for your input on the cycles

[AHPP]

Do the council own the trees? Is it in a conservation area? Are they subject to tree preservation orders?

Assuming all no, **************** the council and their crass opinion. 

[Mick Dempsey]

45 minutes ago, AHPP said:

**************** the council and their crass opinion. 

 

[Mick Dempsey]

Just top them and cash the cheque. 

 

[AHPP]

26 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

 

 

That’s the gif that means I’ve missed something very, very obvious. Enlighten me. 

[Mick Dempsey]

It’s pointing out that your written  opinion could easily be interpreted as crass.