Butt Squeezed, Top Reduced

[Stephen Blair]

Have you topped the trees and now new growth has appeared ?

Or did new growth appear lower down, then you topped them?

[treeseer]

I did not top the trees, according to the ANSI definition, nonselective cutting with no regard to health or structure. If BS 3998 calls any reduction of a central leader 'topping' then mea culpa.

 

Yes the new growth was there back at the forks before any pruning took place. That growth was retrenchment as I understand it.

 

5%-15% came off the tops, depending on stability and structure and location etc.. Almost all cuts <10 cm. The pics are taken ~80' off the ground. 3 years later 34 0f 35 are doing well.

Edited October 3, 2015 by treeseer

[David Humphries]

Any full length shots of the tree either before or after Guy?

 

 

 

.

[treeseer]

These 35 were all street trees, squashed in lines. Most of the pruning was off the central leaders to reduce leverage, and some sprawling tips.

 

So there was a lot of green left, cuts hidden so the trees were looking natural; poor prospects for good B&A.