Rant: Why didn't anyone tell me to quit topping trees years ago?

Had a guy scream at me from his porch back in March, said I was 'butchering' his silver maple. I argued with him for 10 minutes, told him topping was standard. He threw a book at me about tree biology. Read it that night. Turns out topping creates weak growth that snaps in 3-5 years. Changed my whole approach since then. Now I only do proper crown reductions with 2-3 inch cut limits. Has anyone else had a customer call them out like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

iris_barnes8715d ago

Wow, a guy actually threw a book at you? That's wild.

rowan_ross14d ago

And that book throwing guy probably saved you from a lawsuit honestly. I had a similar wake up call when a customer showed me photos of a tree I'd topped two years prior. It looked terrible all those spindly shoots sticking up like broom handles. Felt like such an idiot for defending that practice for so long. That one moment changed everything about how I work now.