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Breaking Down Two Myths
about Tree Topping
Myth #1: Topping invigorates a tree.
Truth: Topping immediately decreases the health of a tree
and sends it on a
downward spiral.
Reasons:
-
Decay
starts when a tree is topped. Even strongly angled cuts
never close completely.
-
Sunscald,
the effect of prolonged bright sun heating a tree’s trunk
after it has been topped, kills tissue just below the
bark directly or when freezing temperatures follow,
causing that portion of the trunk to die.
-
Food production loss
from the absence of its crown greatly alters a tree’s
ability to channel nourishment to the woody parts – the
stem and root system.
-
Excess resprouting
occurs as the result of loss of branches, the tree
forming very thick and ugly sprouting almost overnight.
-
Disease and insect attack
follows on the heels of resprouting, sunscald and food
production loss as a tree’s physiological system is
altered and disease resistance lowered.
-
Root weakening
and decay result from the loss of food resources once
produced in the part of the crown removed.
-
Shortened life span or death
of a tree is the eventual result of topping. Some trees
will not tolerate topping and may quickly die. All other
survivors will have reduced life spans.
Myth #2: Topping reduces storm damage.
Truth: Topping increases storm damage potential.
Reasons:
-
Resprouting is quick.
Topped trees regain their original height within 2 to 4
years. Many trees wind up taller than if they had not
been topped.
-
Resprouts are weak.
No matter how native a tree is to the state, a topped
tree’s new limbs, because of their rapid growth rate, are
weaker and will break easier.
-
Resprouts are weakly attached.
Many topped trees will break right where the new limbs
grow back.
-
Dieback
is a term for entire limbs dying, creating hazardous
storm situations.
-
Resprouting is very dense,
especially in the first years after topping, making the
tree less resistant to wind than had it been normally.
-
Root death,
one of the results of topping, leaves an entire tree
structurally weaker.
-
Loss of side limbs,
due to topping, drastically reduces the “cushion” that
normal trees have when they fall, dramatically increasing
the chance of property damage.
-
Liability concerns increase
for both property owner and tree topper if resulting
trees cause bodily harm or damage property.
 A
program originally developed by The Missouri Community
Forestry Council and Forest ReLeaf of Missouri
through grants from the Missouri Department of
Conservation and the USDA Forest Service. Funded
in Virginia by the Virginia Urban Forest Council, the
Virginia Department of Forestry and the National Tree
Trust.
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