Was trimming a big maple near Portland last spring and something clicked about crown reduction

I was up in a 60-foot silver maple that had been topped decades ago and the regrowth was a mess of weak codominant stems. After I did a proper reduction cut on the biggest leader, the whole tree just looked more balanced and natural. Has anyone else noticed how different a tree looks when you actually respect its natural form instead of just hacking it back?

2 comments

2 Comments

jason3282d ago

That natural form thing is huge but it goes way deeper than just looks. When you make those proper reduction cuts back to a lateral that's at least a third of the branch diameter, you're basically telling the tree where to put its energy next season. A topped tree spends years just trying to rebuild canopy and ends up with those terrible waterspouts that snap in the first decent windstorm. Meanwhile, a well reduced crown redirects growth into the remaining structure and the tree actually compartmentalizes the wound way better. I've seen silver maples that were reduced right outcompete the ones that got hatracked by like 5+ years in terms of overall health and storm resistance.

benb211d ago

Honestly, spot on, that proper cut directs energy better than any bandaid fix ever could.