Millions of trees have been hacked with little or no consideration to their health and structural integrity. People who top trees have yet to recognize that pruning trees, following established industry standards of professionalism, can improve their health, growth and appearance.
What happens when trees are topped?
Trees maintain a delicate crown-to-root ratio. Topping removes the crown, upsetting this ratio and limiting the trees ability to sustain its own roots. This makes them more susceptible to insects and disease, and particularly decay.
Limbs weakened by decay cannot handle the weight of rapid re-growth. In a few years, if the tree servies, it may become a bigger safety hazard than it was prior to topping.
What is the alternative?
Our professional Certified Tree Workers have the ability to make the tree look more attractive, safer, and even smaller, with appropriate corrective pruning.
The principles of proper pruning are to restrict growth in one area and encourage it in others, as well as to remove damaged or dead limbs. Pruning encourages growth, improves flower and fruit production, improves plant health, repairs damage and helps add aesthetic appeal to a tree.
Pruning at the right time.
“Timing of pruning is very important to health of your trees,” says Robert Rouse, staff arborist for the National Arborist Association. “Pruning some trees at the wrong time of the year can be detrimental to their health.
On the other hand, many trees can be pruned year-round. Certain operations, such as deadwood removal, have no detrimental effect on the health of the tree no matter when they are carried out. This is so because the wood is already dead and has been walled-off from the rest of the tree by the plant’s defense mechanisms,” he says.
If you are unsure whether you should prune your trees or if your tree has been topped, call Urban Forest Tree Care, Inc., we can offer advice and perform proper pruning.