![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1As I drive around town on my various errands, shopping trips, and general getting-out-of-the-house trips, I see them. Trees that have had their leaf-bearing braches cut off, leaving only the trunk and stumps of major branches.
(cue the "shower scene" music from Psycho)
This practice is known as "tree topping".
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Forestry Division defines topping as "the excessive and arbitrary removal of all parts of the tree above and beyond a certain height with no regard for the structure or growth pattern of the tree."
Why is this done? Utility companies use laborers unskilled in the fine art of tree pruning to top trees around their powerlines so that the tree doesn't interfere with the lines. Homeowners top their trees in an effort to prune them or to reduce their size, and often think they're saving money by doing it themselves.
What happens? Trees get their nutrients from sunlight and the chlorophyll in the leaves. Topping a tree essentially starves it. The tree will then put as much energy as it can to grow new branches where the old ones were cut off, but at odd angles. Topping a tree also exposes its inner core to decay, disease, and invasion from insects.
The end result is an ugly-looking tree -- one that looks amputated and disfigured -- and its lifespan may have been shortened.
Of course, many landscapers and crews who perform tree topping also perform tree removal, which may have to be done several years down the road.
So what is there to do? Prune the tree instead. If you don't know how to do this, hire an ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) certified arborist to prune the tree. Pruning is the careful and methodic removal of selected branches.
If you love your tree, don't top it -- prune it!
Background info:
Page from the Illinois DNR website
Page from the International Society of Arborculture website
(For those that are wondering.....yes, I had my pint of Guinness this afternoon, along with fine Irish cuisine -- corned beef, cabbage, and redskin potatoes, all boiled.)
(cue the "shower scene" music from Psycho)
This practice is known as "tree topping".
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture, Forestry Division defines topping as "the excessive and arbitrary removal of all parts of the tree above and beyond a certain height with no regard for the structure or growth pattern of the tree."
Why is this done? Utility companies use laborers unskilled in the fine art of tree pruning to top trees around their powerlines so that the tree doesn't interfere with the lines. Homeowners top their trees in an effort to prune them or to reduce their size, and often think they're saving money by doing it themselves.
What happens? Trees get their nutrients from sunlight and the chlorophyll in the leaves. Topping a tree essentially starves it. The tree will then put as much energy as it can to grow new branches where the old ones were cut off, but at odd angles. Topping a tree also exposes its inner core to decay, disease, and invasion from insects.
The end result is an ugly-looking tree -- one that looks amputated and disfigured -- and its lifespan may have been shortened.
Of course, many landscapers and crews who perform tree topping also perform tree removal, which may have to be done several years down the road.
So what is there to do? Prune the tree instead. If you don't know how to do this, hire an ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) certified arborist to prune the tree. Pruning is the careful and methodic removal of selected branches.
If you love your tree, don't top it -- prune it!
Background info:
Page from the Illinois DNR website
Page from the International Society of Arborculture website
(For those that are wondering.....yes, I had my pint of Guinness this afternoon, along with fine Irish cuisine -- corned beef, cabbage, and redskin potatoes, all boiled.)
