Used to top every oak tree I touched until an old timer in Birmingham chewed me out 5 years ago

Now I only do reduction cuts and crown cleaning, has anyone else had to unlearn bad habits from early days in this trade?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona33025d ago

...and thats exactly how I learned the hard way too. Had some old timer in Portland yell at me for topping a maple and I still feel bad about that tree. Took me a good year of watching proper cuts on YouTube to really unlearn all the junk I thought was normal.

kaip1125d ago

Is it really that serious though? Trees have been growing back from storms and natural damage for millions of years without some arborist yelling at anyone. I get that topping can look ugly for a bit and maybe stress the tree some, but acting like it's some mortal sin feels a little dramatic. Half the trees I see that got topped 20 years ago are still standing tall and healthy, they just look a bit funky. Unless you're working on some historic landmark oak, I doubt a bad cut here and there is gonna kill the thing. People act like trees are made of glass instead of tough living things that can handle a little abuse.