Warning: I think we over-prune young maples in this town

Last Thursday I had to fix a client's maple that got topped by another crew, the whole crown was gone. They said it was 'standard practice' to prevent storm damage, but now the tree is just pushing out weak water sprouts. I spent 4 hours doing reduction cuts to try and save its shape, and the owner was out $500 for the bad job. Has anyone else seen this kind of damage from aggressive pruning on young trees?

2 comments

2 Comments

emery60316d ago

My neighbor paid a guy $200 last spring to "clean up" her young redbud. He basically stripped all the lower branches, so now it's just this weird lollipop shape. I mean, it's alive, but it looks totally wrong and won't fill out right for ages. It's frustrating because you can't really fix that kind of cut. Makes me wonder if some people just don't know how trees actually grow.

michael_baker17d ago

Seen this exact thing happen with shrubs too. People hack them back too hard thinking it helps, but it just ruins the natural shape for years. Feels like a shortcut that always makes more work later.