Height reduction of a lime in hale, manchester

[Czlowiek Drzewo]

I just quoted a job today, 10 sycs and an elm, most have been topped before, they want them all brutally topped, I explained all the pitfalls etc and they fully understand. However they still want them all down to about 10 foot, and that's what I'll do, I'm not turning down £1100 for a job right on my doorstep just so someone else can do what I won't.

 

I'll be doing them in a few weeks, not sure if I will post pics though:blushing:

 

exactly. all you can do is give your best professional adice to the costumers and explain why it s not good to prune tree badly. if they still want it done and are willing to pay for it then so be it.

 

the industry is competitive enough..to hell with turning down jobs.

[Mesterh]

I personally dont feel good about it so dont do it, I would hate to be reading a headline in a paper in 20 years time of a branch failing on a tree I had massacred in the past that had killed some poor soul innocently going about their business.

 

I do admire your work ethics and concerns for others.

 

But, going back to my comment on the leylandii topping dont you think its just the same?

 

Topping a leylandii, be it a specimen or a hedge creates the same structural weaknesses as topping a hardwood.

 

I've seen them fail and been on the end of one failing while tied into it, which was nice at all since I fell about eight foot onto my back with the 020under me which fortunately wasnt running.

[Dean Lofthouse]

I have retopped many trees..dont have a problem with it nor do I have a problem with someone else topping a tree provided that it can be guaranteed to be managed and "managing" is the magic word.

 

You are in effect relying on someone promising they will "manage" the tree.

 

I did what I would say verged on a topping last year, others may have called it a maximum reduction, it still looked good afterwards and had good form, but that is probably the nearest I have come to anything like a topping in eight years and I still have a thriving business suprisingly

[Dean Lofthouse]

Topping a leylandii, be it a specimen or a hedge creates the same structural weaknesses as topping a hardwood.

 

 

I dont agree

 

I have never seen a leylandii fail due to topping, I've seen included bark failures but never from topping, they dont form weak pocket like some trees

[Mesterh]

Your right about not forming pockets but I think its more to do with weak attachments. Ive seen quite a few split out where you can see they were topped at hedge height many years before, grown very leggy and either pushed against each other or became more susceptible to wind throw.

In fact the last bit about wind throw has probably caused the most failures ive seen.

 

The one that failed on me had been hedged at about 6 feet with maybe another 15 feet on top of that, I was tied into only one stem my(poor judgement on my side) an as I leaned out to start the saw it failed at my feet (the 6 foot hedge height) This was all along time ago 13+years but it still makes me wary.

[David Humphries]

I'll be doing them in a few weeks, not sure if I will post pics though:blushing:

 

 

I think posting picks of the decay/dysfunction of the old topping cuts would be very informative Tom..

Take the camera along

 

 

 

 

.

[Frank]

I dont agree

 

I have never seen a leylandii fail due to topping, I've seen included bark failures but never from topping, they dont form weak pocket like some trees

 

Plus, the one major point is that leylandii do not regenerate with epicormic growth, so you are not creating weak limbs for the future that are growing out of the cambium layer and not asynchronously. And the main reason for topping leylandii hedges is to recreate a hedge that has been left unmanicured for one reason or another and is now going to be reduced to make it managable.