crown restoration advice and tips please

[Stephen Blair]

ha ha mark, honest it wasnt me mate. thanks mick.

[Rich Rule]

stevie,

 

I tend to remove some of the larger growth from each old topping point. For example, if there are 7-8 stems growing out of the old wound, a couple of them'll be leaders, couple of medium sized and probably a few scratty bits. Remove the crud, and the largest couple and then maybe reduce one to similar size to the medium sized growth. Leaves a more natural looking crown albeit smaller in size

 

May not be the best explanation but I know what I mean. LOL

[nepia]

If I came home to that syc I'd think you were something of a magician to be honest. Considering what you had to play with it looks very good indeed; just imagine it two years from now and I think 10/10 is a fair score.

[Stephen Blair]

i know what you mean rich, what through me on the sycamore was that it was just the 2 main centres that had been done before, and the sides hadnt been touched, i originally did what you say, but they were about 5 feet higher than the where they should of been to make a nice shape, it was a jaggy pole. So i left them to last, came down for a looksy then decided to take them off mate

[Stephen Blair]

thanks nepia, i wasnt expecting these replies, i am chuffed, i am sure deano and huck will be along soon to put me in my place lol

[Mark Bolam]

I've done loads of reductions round here that now look like that (the before pics).

 

It's painful to drive past them, but you are contending with customers desperate for 'value for money', who want more and more off, and who won't listen to waffle about shock growth, epicormic fuzz-balls and regular maintenance.

 

Less is more, for sure, but sometimes you've just got to pay the bills.

 

That is great recovery work, though Stevie.

[Stephen Blair]

me too mark, but never with rips though.lol. i am interested in how it will come back

[Tommy_B]

Looks great considering what you had to work with!! Top effort mate!!!

[Alinicoll]

Its always a nightmare to reduce something thats been topped before. I think that considering what you have to play with they look fine. Maybe next time they will be easier. With lime i would be inclined to top them again and try and get some half decent pollard heads going. Even then its good to leave a few fluffy bits.

[Stephen Blair]

i cleaned out the lime and came down for a look, and i thought if i redid it, i would be just back to square one with it, so i opted to leave it from there and ask on here, i do the work for the house now anyway, so the customer will go with my recomendation, i was going to call a couple of guys on here from up the tree, but decided it might make a bit of a good topic for some weekend puter arbing, lol.