Beech crown reduction advice

[Joe Newton]

Thinning is one of the most useless specs going, in fact it could lead to more trouble for the tree itself! Thinning is normally carried out under a spec to "reduce wind sail" IME it can hinder the tree more doing this! As once the crown is open the wind can then be past through more easily leaving some limbs more vulnerable! The trees canopy relies greatly on what it has grown although some growth is not needed. Almost every thin I see is over done or lion tail and looks awful. What looks like a nice job to let light in for the customer has now turned the tree into a time bomb for wind damage. The tree is plenty enough away from the house and given the space it has a reduction clearly is not needed! 100% with tony on this one. Deadwood only

 

 

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Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could only carry out work that was needed?

 

Unfortunately though sometimes a client will want work doing (in this case a light reduction) that isn't necessary. Still gets done though, and I'd rather do a good job of it and end up with the money than turn the work down, and then see the tree mutilated by someone else's idea of a reduction.

 

 

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[Chris at eden]

Can I ask why you quoted my post in your reply please? Are you agreeing or disagreeing with my post?

 

Adam.

 

 

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Bit of both really. I dont agree that crown thinning is useless but i take your point that people often carry it out to a poor standard or excessivly but i just would not call this crown thinning. In a similar way i would call the complete removal of the canopy on a mature maiden tree, pollarding. i also agree with your comments about it being pointless if you want to reduce sail area. If they want to remove deadwood then a light thin would acheive this. Ultimatley is suppose it will come down to what the client wants and generally they usually want it to look different when done which is not always the best thing for the tree.

 

cheers,

[Greenhorn]

All your advice has been great and I've taken a lot of it on board. What I'm going to suggest to the client is to deadwood the tree, and like Joe Newton suggested take the extension growth back into shape - I can do that comfortably without ruining the look of the tree. Thanks for your help!

 

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[Andrew Gale]

Agree with all previous comments reference not reducing but more worryingly why are you quoting by percentages? State a current height and a proposed finished height; from a climbers perspective it's easier to gauge, if it did have a TPO or within a CA the app/notification would get refused and if the client were to argue the toss about not taking enough off, you can point out that the tree has been pruned to the specified amount - rant over

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Ok, I'd defiantly check before carrying out any work.

Without sounding negative and without having a detailed look at the whole tree, I prefer the look of it as it is. Maybe a very light thin and removal of deadwood maybe more suitable ?

Feel free to ask as many questions as you want though mate.

 

that would be what was coined as "crown clean" in the old days, not advisable#

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Agree with all previous comments reference not reducing but more worryingly why are you quoting by percentages? State a current height and a proposed finished height; from a climbers perspective it's easier to gauge, if it did have a TPO or within a CA the app/notification would get refused and if the client were to argue the toss about not taking enough off, you can point out that the tree has been pruned to the specified amount - rant over

 

ive seen many apps pass through despite having % wordings, sadly the Planners are not up to speed yet

[Andrew Gale]

ive seen many apps pass through despite having % wordings, sadly the Planners are not up to speed yet

 

Very true, best we educate those who make the decisions.....