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Friday, June 5, 2009 9:36 PM CDT
Commission seeks better cut for Charleston trees
By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
rstroud@jg-tc.com
CHARLESTON — A tree that has been topped loses one-third or more of its leaf canopy, leaving stubby limbs standing exposed.
The city’s Tree Commission has began a campaign to encourage local trimmers not to top trees and property owners to not request topping. The campaign holds that topping weakens trees and damages their beauty.
Information from the National Arbor Day Foundation about the detriments of tree topping was mailed last week to more than half a dozen trimmers, said commission Chairman Andy Methven.
Some common reasons why property owners top their trees are they want sculpted “picture perfect” trees instead of natural growth or they are worried a tree has gotten too big and limbs will fall onto their homes, Methven said.
Methven said the severe pruning of a tree can make these limb problems even worse.
Trees respond to the stress of topping by producing a lot of new sprouts that grow at an abnormally rapid pace. He said within a few years these sprouts become a large crown of weak limbs that are prone to snapping.
“The tree is a lot weaker at that point with the new growth coming off it than when the original growth was there,” said Curt Devore, the city’s parks and facilities maintenance superintendent.
Devore and Methven said the removal of leaf canopies can suddenly expose sensitive bark tissue to scalding sunlight and temporarily cut off a tree’s food-making ability. They also said the large stubs of a topped tree have a difficult time sealing, which results in the trees being vulnerable to insects and diseases.
When a tree’s height needs to be reduced, the Arbor Day Foundation recommends a trimming process called crown reduction. Rather than the ends of branches being lopped off, selected limbs forming the tree’s perimeter are pruned at their junction with side branches that are at least one-third the diameter of the branch being removed.
Devore said property owners can catch problem limbs early by pruning during a tree’s formative years and pruning regularly thereafter.
“Sometimes it’s a matter of the trees that are planted,” Methven said.
Methven said property owners sometimes inadvertently plant trees that will grow to be very tall under power lines, and these trees later need to be cut back by the electric company.
In other instances, he said property owners plant silver maples or other fast-growing shade trees with weak limbs that are prone to breaking.
Advantage Tree Service owner Michael Hash said he agrees with the Tree Commission that it is unhealthy to give trees too aggressive of a trim.
Hash said he places a priority on retaining the attractive appearance of trees whenever he works for the Charleston school district and his other customers.
Hash said he does have customers who have planted some varieties of elms and other fast-growing trees with highly breakable limbs. Hash said some of these customers want to trim their trees far down, and he honors their requests.
Devore said bradford pear trees and some varieties of elms almost have to be topped because their limbs are so weak, adding they have a relatively short life span of 20-25 years.
Methven said he understands trimmers’ concerns that if they do not top trees their competitors will provide this service. He said the commission hopes to educate property owners that topping is generally a bad idea for the health of their trees.
The commission plans to hold an educational meeting with tree trimmers and anyone else interested in attending and establish a Web site with tree planting recommendations.
Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 238-6861.
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Rockin Rotty wrote on Jun 7, 2009 2:37 AM:
AmerenCIPS sure done us all some more good with these guys, huh?
Too little too late, Andy. "