Do you know that you’re putting your Rockland County, New York or Bergen County, New Jersey trees in danger by topping them?
Indeed, tree topping harms your trees instead of helping them. Here are some ways that you traumatize your trees when you have them topped:
- Topping starves them – When your trees are topped they’re unable to take starches (their food source) and deliver them to the root system. Thus, your tree ends up starving to death.
- Topping opens them up to sunscald – Sudden removal of a tree’s leafy crown can cause too much sunlight to penetrate through the tree—possibly causing sunscald to its bark and harming neighboring trees with too much sunlight.
- Topping opens them up to disease and insect infestation – Through tree topping injuries, you open up your trees to bacteria and insects invading a healthy tree and possibly killing it.
- Topping produces weak limbs – Tree topping puts the affected tree into gear to quickly replace lost limbs. These sprouts are weaker and don’t grow out from a healthy parent branch.
- Topping causes them to rapidly regrow limbs – You thought that through tree topping your trees would be nicely groomed. Instead, your trees grow limbs and branches out from the cuts which end up making your trees look disheveled.
- Topping kills them – Some trees, like beech, can’t handle tree topping. Thus, you could end up killing a perfectly healthy tree.
- Topping deforms them – Your trees will compensate for the severe pruning by not growing back into the shape that it was intended to be.
- Topping ends up costing you more down the road – If a tree falls or breaks during a storm due to weakened limbs caused by tree topping, you raise your liability risk. Additionally, you’ll need a professional tree service to come to your home or business to fix or take down trees with weakened limbs and branches due to tree topping.
Why Hiring a Professional Tree Service is a Smart Move
There are tree hackers (they come to your door with a chainsaw in hand) that top trees and then there are professional tree services that will selectively prune your trees to help them stay beautiful, safe, and continue to grow to their potential. A professional tree service will
- Know the latest and best way to prune trees.
- Perform crown reduction by pruning back large branches to the parent lateral branch.
- Encourage you to prune your trees every three years to keep their shape and size.
- Show you, before you plant a certain tree, what size it’ll grow into. Thus, you’ll be able to make an informed decision regarding where you plant your new landscape trees.
- Follow industry standards set by the International Society of Arboriculture.
Majestic Lawn Care and Landscape’s Professional Tree Services
If you live in Bergen County, New Jersey or Rockland County, New York, you can trust us at Majestic Lawn Care and Landscape to professionally prune your landscape trees. We provide:
- Crown cleaning where we remove dead, diseased, and broken limbs.
- Canopy thinning to give more sunlight to turf and landscapes. This service will not cause your trees to be susceptible to sunscald.
- Limb elevation to keep cars and people safe as well as clear any limbs that touch your home’s roofline.
- Selective pruning to maintain your tree’s shape and appearance.
Emergency limb and branch removal caused by a severe storm.
According to the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA), toppings are for ice cream sundaes, not for trees. Don’t you agree?
If you live in Bergen County, NJ or Rockland County, NY and your trees need some selective pruning or crown cleaning, call us today at 845-708-2988 or fill out our contact form.
Sources:
Majestic Lawn Care & Landscape, “Complete Tree Care for Rockland County, Nyack, and New City.”
McKenzie, Rita. “What’s Wrong with Topping Trees?” Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources.
TCIA. “Topping is for Ice Cream, Not Trees!” TCIA.
