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Unpopular opinion: I think we should stop topping those big oaks in the city park
Last week in Springfield, the city crew topped three 80-year-old white oaks to clear power lines, leaving huge wounds. My boss says it's the only fast option, but I learned at a conference three years ago that proper crown reduction takes longer but keeps the tree healthy. What's your take on topping versus reduction for utility clearance?
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hannah_craig14h ago
I worked for a tree service that topped everything for years, it was just how we did it. Then I saw a red maple we had topped come down in a storm two years later, the rot was already deep in those big cuts. My boss at the time called it a "quick fix" but watching that tree fail changed my mind. A proper reduction by a certified arborist might take an extra hour per tree, but it leaves smaller cuts that can actually heal. The topped trees just become a hazard and the city ends up removing them entirely a few years down the line.
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kevinallen11h ago
Man, I learned the hard way that topping is a bad idea. I tried it on a maple in my own yard years ago, trying to save a buck. Ended up with a mess of suckers and a tree that looked like it got a bad haircut, lol. The thing started to rot where I made the big cuts. Had to pay someone way more to take the whole thing down later. Proper reduction is slower, but it's like getting a good surgeon instead of someone with a chainsaw and a guess.
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