Question: An arborist offered to “top” my shade tree that has grown so large that branches touch the house. Should I have him do that? Answer: “Topping” is cutting all tree branches back to an ...

Making Flush Cuts That Kill Trees Slowly Most homeowners think they're doing their trees a favor when they trim branches flush against the trunk. It looks cleaner, more professional even. Many ...

The annual practice of butchering trees is in full swing. Tree topping, the practice of cutting large branches back to stubs, is often mistakenly employed by homeowners aiming to reduce tree size or ...

Q. Many times I have read, “Never top a tree!” I have also read that we should keep fruit trees at 8 feet for easy picking. And the avocado experts recommend keeping avocado trees at 11 feet. Either I ...

An arborist offered to “top” my shade tree that has grown so large that branches touch the house. Should I have him do that? Topping is cutting all tree branches back to an arbitrary height. Other ...

The worst thing that you can do to a tree is to top it. Topping, also called dehorning or hatracking, is to cut a tree so severely that it can be subject to infection, pests and will be stressed to a ...