Don't Top Trees!

To keep your tree safe and healthy the best thing you can do for your tree is to prune it properly, not top it. Topping is the excessive and indiscriminate removal of tree branches with no regard for the structure or growth pattern of the tree. Topping destroys the natural form of the tree and sets the tree on a path of decline.

Healthy, well-maintained trees can add 10 to 20 percent to the value of a property. Disfigured, topped trees don't. Topped trees can also be a potential liability. Because topping is considered an unacceptable pruning practice, any damage caused by branch failure of a topped tree may be regarded as negligence.

Why do people top trees? Usually it's out of the mistaken belief that cutting the tree down to a shorter height will make it safer. In reality topping results in a tree that will become a nuisance at best and a potential hazard.

What happens when you top a tree? Topping often removes 50 to 100 percent of the leaf-bearing crown of a tree. The leaves of the tree are the food factory, removing them can starve the tree. The tree needs to put out a new crop of leaves as soon as possible so it responds with the rapid growth of multiple shoots below each topping cut.

Unlike normal branches that develop in a socket of overlapping wood tissues, the new shoots that result from topping are very weakly attached. The shoots grow much faster than normal branches, as much as 20 feet in one year in some species. As the shoots increase in size they are prone to breaking, especially in windy conditions.

A proper pruning cuts is made at the branch's point of attachment. The tree is biologically equipped to close such a wound. Topping cuts create stubs that the tree cannot close and decay organisms are given a free path to move down through the branches.

When a tree is topped the remaining branches and truck are exposed to high levels of light and heat. The result may be sunburn of the tissue below the bark, which can lead to cankers, bark splitting, and death of some branches.

Topping creates an ugly tree with weak wood, decay and dead branches. Trees do sometimes fall over or drop limbs, but not because the tree is "too big." If you have safety concerns about your tree, or need information on good pruning techniques, contact the Urban Forestry Division at (541) 962-1352 Ext. 204.