Three years ago on a job in Spokane, we had to decide between a full removal and a risky crown reduction on a huge, leaning maple. The client wanted to save it, but the lean was bad. We went with the reduction, staked it, and it's still standing. Looking back, was that the right call, or did we just get lucky?

3 comments

3 Comments

Sounds like you just got lucky honestly. That tree was a major hazard and a reduction doesn't fix the root problem. It's still leaning and could fail in the next big storm.

walker.hayden2mo ago

Didn't a study show reductions cut failure risk by like half, @patricia634?

elizabeth_ramirez2mo ago

So you're saying any tree with a lean should just be cut down, no matter what? A proper reduction by a certified arborist can take a huge amount of weight and wind-sail out of the crown (which massively lowers the risk). What's your actual experience with tree risk assessment, because that's a pretty blanket statement.