Before and after on this sycamore I pruned, 8 months apart

I took a before pic of this sycamore in Portland last spring when it was basically a giant bush with 4 trunks rubbing each other. Cut out about 30% of the interior growth and removed two of those trunks, and now it actually looks like a tree instead of a tangled mess. Has anyone else been surprised how fast a neglected tree bounces back once you give it some structure?

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jessel356d ago

My track record with pruning is basically me standing back after a cut going "well that's either gonna be great or I just killed it" so hats off to you for actually getting it right. That 30% interior thinning plus taking out two of the rubbing trunks sounds like you did the hard part most folks skip, which is being brave enough to take out real wood instead of just nibbling at the tips. Sycamores in particular seem to explode once they get some air and light in there. I've hacked up plenty of stuff that came back way better than I deserved, and also a few that just sat there looking sad for two years.

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