At least once a month, we get a request for topping someone’s trees. The reasons are myriad: The tree is blocking the view, it’s impinging on satellite service, it’s deemed too tall and hazardous, or someone just likes the look. On the surface, topping doesn’t seem like a bad idea. You get to keep your tree and have it out of your way. In reality, though, topping is a terrible practice, and we try to dissuade all our clients from having it done.
Why is topping trees so bad?
There are a lot of reasons, but first and foremost is that it will likely kill your tree. Hacking it back may not kill it this year or next, but your tree’s lifespan will definitely be shortened.
Topping drastically reduces a tree’s leaf mass, limiting the tree’s ability to produce food and sustain itself. This causes root dieback. Also, the site of an indiscriminate topping cut can provide access to decay, insects, and disease. And limbs newly exposed to sun without the protection of the canopy may become sunburned, leading to cankers and branch death. All of this leads to an unhealthy, unstable tree.
Furthermore, topping often leads to something we call “witchbrooming.” This is where a multitude of branches sprout from near the cut. These epicormic branches are weakly attached and can grow up to 20 feet in one year. Such limbs are susceptible to breakage in storms, causing more damage than the tree originally would have.
Another problem with topping is that it will ultimately cost you more in the long run. More frequent pruning will be necessary to mitigate branch failure risks and to rein in the height of the new epicormic branches. Furthermore, as the tree’s health declines, it may just have to be removed after a number of years.
Finally, topped trees are ugly. When you consider that healthy, well-maintained trees can add 10-20 percent to the value of your property – and topped trees can be seen as a safety risk – why would any homeowner request the practice?
What’s a homeowner to do instead?
However, there are healthy approaches to canopy reduction. One method is called “drop-crotching,” where tall limbs are cut back to an appropriate branch that can take on a terminal role. This branch must be at least one-third the size of the one removed. Drop-crotching can diminish height while maintaining the shape and health of a tree. However, this is only appropriate for trees with a rounded, or decurrent, shape. Pyramidal, or excurrent, trees (think conifers) simply cannot have their height reduced without negative consequences.
In some cases, the best practice is to remove the problem tree and replace it with one better suited to the site.
If you are considering topping your tree, please give us a call. We can offer alternative approaches that may solve the problem at hand.
It’s no surprise that such extensive topping killed this tree. If you want to cut a tree back that much, it’s better to just remove it entirely.These Norway spruce trees will be unable to heal over the wounds that topping created, thus leading to rot and structurally unsound trees.
How to tell if the tree looming over your house and in your thoughts is a hazard tree…
It’s big and it’s heavy, and it’s got the potential to put a major dent in your home and your finances…but is it truly a hazard tree? When should you worry? And when should you simply be grateful for the extra shade?
Trees lay across a roof after a windstorm
We at Sand Creek Tree Service are experienced in assessing hazard trees. That said, not all problem trees are readily detected. Sometimes the structural defects are hidden inside the tree or below the soil. Sometimes, a “better safe than sorry” approach is best. We’ll always discuss options with you, letting you make the final call when it comes to potential risks that are hard to quantify.
However, many hazard trees present signs of their structural weaknesses. Ultimately, a hazard tree is one in which the weight of a tree – or a part of the tree – exceeds the tree’s structural integrity (in a branch, trunk or roots). When assessing your tree for risks, we evaluate the likelihood of the tree failing, the environment that contributes to failure, and the target (the part of your property that would sustain damage).
There are seven general problems that point to your tree being a hazard tree: decayed wood, cracks, root problems, weak branch unions, cankers, poor tree structure, and dead portions of the tree. Decayed or rotting wood is often indicated by shelf mushrooms – a parasitic fungus – growing on the trunk. Cracks are often obvious and can be the result of lightning, frost, or other factors. Root problems might be evidenced by a bulging in the ground to one side of the tree, indicating that anchor roots are slowly losing their capacity to hold the tree in place. Weak branch unions can appear as a kind of seam in the bark, a sign of included bark. This means the branch is not fully connected to the rest of the tree; as the limb grows over the years and increases in weight, that union my fail. Cankers will look like a bulge or deformation in the trunk of your tree, meaning that the bark and cambium layer are dead and nutrients aren’t flowing through the tree as they should. Poor tree structure simply implies that your tree has grown in a direction or manner that makes breakage more likely. Perhaps the tree has a heavy lean, or maybe a horizontal branch has acquired too much weight. Finally, a hazard tree is most obvious when it is dying (dead top or branches) or completely dead.
Besides looking at these seven factors, we also assess the direction of prevailing winds in your area and which direction your hazard tree might fall. Another important factor to consider is the target. What will the tree damage when it falls? If you have a hazard tree without the potential to damage your property or injure anybody, we sometimes suggest letting nature takes its course. Trees that humans deem hazardous can make for important animal habitat. Think of all our local eagles and osprey that nest in snags.
If a potential hazard tree is regularly invading your thoughts, don’t hesitate to give us a call. It’s better to bring down a tree in a controlled manner – especially around people and structures – than to let your roof bear the brunt. And who knows, maybe your tree is perfectly healthy and willing to provide you and your family shade and birdsong for another fifty years. But a little peace of mind provided by a professional is always worth the effort.
Locally sourced live edge slabs are great for all your home projects…
It’s official: We’re now in the business of selling live edge slabs! Throughout our years of arborist work, we’ve amassed a fine collection of logs—maple, walnut, cherry, birch and more—that are now slabs, ready for your home improvement project. Whether you’re looking for a bar top, mantle, table or shelves, we’ve got something beautiful to cover your needs. And keep checking back with us; the tree business ensures we will never run out of wood.
For a look at our full inventory of live edge slabs, go to www.sandcreekslabs.com. You’ll find stuff that’s ready to sell now, along with slabs that are currently drying and will be ready soon.
Sand Creek Slabs is a natural outgrowth of our arborist business. When sought-after lumber like maple, walnut, Doug fir, and cherry started filling the log yard, we knew we couldn’t turn it into firewood or hobby mill with our chainsaws any longer. It was time to do right by these stately trees. We bought a Norwood sawmill, followed by a dedicated slabber for larger logs, and now we have a slab flattener in our arsenal, too.
We usually let a log rest for a few months before milling it into slabs. The slabs are then stickered, stacked, and air-dried outside for several years. It typically takes one year of air drying per inch of slab thickness. After wood moisture has reached an acceptable equilibrium outside, we place the slabs in a solar-powered kiln for up to six weeks during the drying season to gently finish them off with heat and air flow. The solar kiln does its work during the day and cools off at night, giving the wood an opportunity to rest. This helps prevent checking and warping while preserving the rich colors of the grain. Most slabs end up in the 8-to-12-percent moisture content range at the end of the process.
Now we have a plethora of beautiful pieces, ready for whatever creative project you have in mind. Call or visit our slab website today.
In case you were wondering what goes on in a female arborist’s head…
Once upon a time, I was not a Lumberjill, but a writer. I was poor but creatively fulfilled and somewhat prolific. I wrote a lot. Now, with a thriving business and family, I rarely have time to pick up the proverbial pen. But the folks at the Sandpoint Reader give me reason to, holding space for a regular column called “The Lumberjill.”
It turns out that, during long days feeding the chipper and moving logs, many thoughts move through my brain. It’s fun to have an outlet for those musings. It’s fun to be The Lumberjill.
The column won’t help you diagnose tree health issues or assess hazard trees. Sorry. It’s not that kind of writing. (Call us if you need help with any of that stuff.) Instead, it’s a look into my stream-of-arborist-consciousness as it relates to gender issues, work-life balance, family dynamics, shifting life goals, the highs and lows of service sector work, and more. It’s the world as seen through the lens of Bugz. My Bugz, specifically.
The Lumberjill is in no way required reading, but if you’ve got time to kill—perhaps while waiting for your busy local arborist to show up and provide an estimate—head on over to the Sandpoint Reader and have a look around. I’m certainly not the only columnist worth reading there. But if you feel like checking out The Lumberjill’s musings, I’d be happy to hear what you think.
A bucket truck joins our fleet to better serve your needs…
Though the 2020 season is just drawing to a close, we find ourselves looking ahead to next year and how we might better serve our clients. A bucket truck seems just the thing to handle a diversity of tree needs. From the removal of beetle-killed Doug firs too dangerous to climb, to unruly cherry trees in need of top-down attention, our new acquisition has you covered.
New to our fleet: a bucket truck.
Sand Creek Tree Service’s new bucket truck features a 75-foot working height elevator bucket, getting us within range of most of the cuts we’ll need to make. The truck also features a chip box with a dump feature, so once your limbs or trees are reduced to wood chips, we can deposit them wherever needed.
We anticipate that the bucket truck will make our work easier and allow us to tackle a greater diversity of jobs in a more efficient manner. However, this doesn’t mean we’ve hung up our harnesses just yet. A truck can’t get to every tree in the forest. If you have an inaccessible tree, don’t hesitate to call. We’re still ready with ropes and spurs to do what needs to be done.
We at Sand Creek Tree Service are so grateful to our community for choosing us year after year to tackle your tree needs. We wouldn’t be where we are today—a thriving business and a happy family—without your faith in us. Thank you, Bonner County. We plan to do right by your support for many, many years to come.
