Watched a crew top a 60 foot oak at the collar and leave 4 inch stubs, called it back 8 weeks later

Jordan Park · 2026-09-28T03:05:05.392868+00:00

I do consulting work around Charlotte and got called out to a property on Rea Road where a crew had topped a big white oak 8 weeks before. The homeowner thought it looked fine because it was still green. What I found was 4 inch stubs at the branch collar with flush cuts on half of them, and the tree was already pushing 30 or 40 watersprouts out of each cut. That is the thing people keep getting wrong about topping. It is not just ugly. Those sprouts come off weak attachments and most of them will fail in 10 to 15 years, right over the driveway. I know because I have gone back to trees I documented a decade ago and the decay columns are exactly where I said they would be. I ended up writing a report and the homeowner went after the company, but the tree does not get to win that one. How are you all handling it when a client already paid someone and the damage is done?

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Watched a crew top a 60 foot oak at the collar and leave 4 inch stubs, called it back 8 weeks later | Arborists - Librear