I finally saw what topping does to a mature oak after 5 years

There's this old red oak on my street in Cleveland that got topped back in 2019 by some hack crew. I watched it slowly send up a mess of weak shoots and now half the crown is dead and it's dropping limbs every storm. How do you guys talk homeowners out of this when they're dead set on 'just cutting it down a bit'?

3 comments

3 Comments

ellis.susan21d ago

My neighbor had her maple topped the same year and now it looks like a bad haircut that just won't grow back right, plus she's got shoots poking out everywhere like a stressed out hedgehog. I just hand her pictures of other people's wrecked trees and ask if her insurance covers falling limbs.

the_karen21d ago

Show her a picture of a healthy maple instead.

xenawhite21d ago

Stressed out hedgehog" - lol that's the most accurate description of a topped tree I've ever heard.