To Top or Not to Top… That is the Question!
Removing the Multiple ‘Tops’ of a Previously Topped Spruce Tree
Have you ever been curious about getting your trees topped?
‘Tree Topping’, often referred to as ‘Top Reduction’ by various companies, is the process of cutting a tree off somewhere within the canopy for the purpose of shortening the overall height of the tree. It has been a somewhat common process in the past with spruce trees to reduce their overall height, and sadly there are companies out there that still offer the service.
Topping your tree is an incredibly poor pruning practice. It’s something Red Mountain Rigging simply will not do. As arborists, we are trained and certified in the best possible methods to prune your trees based upon its species, structure, health, risks and a a variety of other factors. Topping a tree has been known to be incredibly harmful to the tree for over 25 years by tree scientists and arborists. No reputable tree service company should offer the service. Let’s get into the details to figure out why!
Tree Topping can Kill your Tree!
First off, tree topping can cause your tree to go into shock and die. A tree survives through the use of its foliage, capturing sunlight and using it to help convert energy towards growth. By removing a massive amount of the tree’s foliage through topping, you’re taking away that ability. In a last ditch attempt for survival, the tree will try to shoot up rapid new growth using any energy reserves it may have. If there are no reserves available, the tree will simply die as it literally starves to death.
If the tree does have the reserves to throw new growth up, the new growth occurs at an incredibly fast rate as the tree fights to survive. Topped trees will often grow exponentially faster than their un-topped counter parts, so the argument for shortening the tree’s height becomes fairly mute.
New Growth is Weak & Prone to Failure!
Rapid new growth in response to topping is often referred to as water sprouts. These are typically branches of a tree that suddenly turn upright and try to grow vertically to establish a new lead. Water sprouts can grow 4 to 10 times more rapidly than the reminder of the tree, placing considerable weight and growth onto an attachment point that was not designed for the load. Combined with the massively large wound directly into the stem created when a tree is topped, and the recipe that creates for rot in the immediate area of these new water sprouts, the over-active growth is incredibly susceptible to failure.
In Spruce trees, likely the single most often topped tree in our area, response growth often takes the shape of multiple new water sprouts all fighting to become the new dominant lead of the tree. These multiple tops are all very weak in their attachment points, and can and often do break from the tree and come down on people or property. This can lead to significant damage, possible injury, or worse.
A ‘Water Sprout’ on a Previously Topped Spruce Tree - Note the Sudden Change from a more Horizontal Branch-Style of Growth to Vertical Growth
A Topped Tree is Highly Susceptible to Disease, Insects & Rot!
We mentioned the introduction of rot into the main stem. By creating a massive wound across the entire stem of the tree, you are creating a wound the tree is not able to compartmentalize.
Compartmentalization is a trees way of ‘healing’, creating reaction wood to help seal off wounds and decay and protect the greater tree. When a tree isn’t able to achieve this, a direct path for disease and insects is created into the tree. These invaders cause decay of the wood and lead to premature rot. What you are left with is a massive sail of spruce water sprouts above a degraded main stem, catching all of our Chinook winds and greatly increasing the risk of failure.
The Cut Portion of this Spruce Tree (Centre of Photo) was the Main Stem of the Tree Before it was Topped - This Wound is a Perfect Avenue for Insects & Disease Into the Tree!
With all this talk of failure, it’s important to understand that because topping is considered improper pruning within the industry, any failures of a topped tree that result in damage to property or injury to persons may come back on you for liability. Several examples exist where both tree service and homeowner were deemed to be negligent in leading to the incident through the use of topping, and unfortunately ignorance has not been found to be a viable defence.
So to wrap this all up, topping has been known to be a poor pruning practice and harmful to the tree for over 25 years. A lack of proper education and training unfortunately allows the practice to live on with certain companies. We’d love to see an end to tree topping, and that can only come through education. So feel free to share this with your friends and neighbours if they’re thinking of engaging a company to top their trees, and maybe we can put an end to this sooner rather than later!
If you ARE looking to shorten the height of your tree, we recommend engaging an arborist to review your options. Deciduous trees can often benefit from end-weight reduction, a method of pruning that shortens branches themselves back to natural target points. Conifer trees and deciduous trees that you are hoping to drastically shorten are often better dealt with by removing the tree entirely and starting fresh with a newly planted tree. You’ll be much happier with your decision down the road!
Written by Sean Sterna - The Rocky Mountain Arborist & Used with Permission