Tree-Topping: The Cost is Greater Than You Think

Trees provide so much to our communities, our homes, and our lives. Healthy trees provide shade, reduce energy costs, prevent soil erosion, filter pollutants from the air and water, beautify our landscapes, and increase property values.

Some become concerned when trees grow large and worry that branches will break and fall, causing property damage or harm. They feel trees must be shortened or "Topped" to make them safer.  In reality, tree topping harms trees, shortens their lives, and creates dangerous or hazardous trees that will surely drop branches in the future. With proper care and maintenance, large trees can be safe in our landscapes.

Tree topping is the removal of large amounts of leaves and branches from a tree's crown.  In some cases, all of the leaves and branches are removed, leaving large stubs where branches were cut.

This red maple was topped and destroyed because it grew taller than the house. Below each heading or stub cut water sprouts grow quickly, while branched rot away from a cut and wound that does not close.

If you are topping a tree to make it smaller, Don't. It doesn't work!  After a tree is topped, it grows back rapidly in an attempt to replace its missing leaves.  Leaves are needed to manufacture food for the tree. Without new leaves, the tree will die. The new branches that sprout up below the cuts will continue to grow quickly until they reach the same size it was before it was topped. Sometimes topped trees will not grow back quickly; instead, they will slowly die in the coming years. 

Long, weakly attached water sprouts emerge from heading or topping cuts. Rot and decay easily spread down a branch that has been topped.

If you don't want a tree to get too big, then it is best to remove the large tree and replace it with a type of tree that doesn't grow too tall. You can't "stop" trees from growing tall by topping.  If you do succeed, you have killed them.

A tree's leaves manufacture its food (photosynthesis). Repeated removal of a tree's food source literally starves the tree over time. When it is topped it must use stored (reserves) food to grow back new leaves and branches.

This maple was topped and is dying because it lacks energy reserves to re-sprout

Topped trees are ugly. They lose their natural, majestic look once they are topped. The new growth of thin upright branches looks like a broom to some. The natural form and appearance that took years for the tree to grow can be destroyed forever in a few hours by an un-informed tree worker or landscaper who "Tops."

Topped trees become hazardous. According to Dr. Alex Shigo, world-renowned scientist and author of books on the care of trees, topping is the most serious injury you can inflict upon your tree.

Topping creates unsafe trees in three ways. 

1. Topping or Heading Cuts opens the tree up to an invasion of rotting organisms.  A tree can defend itself from rot when proper cuts are made in relationship with branch collars.  It cannot stop the spread of decay when it is topped. A topped tree can quickly become unsafe, and begin to drop branches on homes, cars, and people. Rotted limbs or the entire tree may fall years after it was topped. Ironically, many people top their trees because they think it will make them safer.
2. The new, quick-growing branches (or sprouts) are weakly attached and break easily in wind or snowstorms, even many years later when they are large and heavy. These upright sprouts do not have branch collars, the interweaving of trunk and branch wood, that embeds naturally growing branches, providing a very strong attachment.
3. The thick re-growth of new branches (sprouts) caused by topping makes the tree top-heavy and more likely to catch the wind. This increases the chance of storm winds blowing branches out of the tree. A tree can be properly pruned (thinned) to allow wind to pass through the branches. Tree topping typically leads to future storm damage from the tree versus proper structural pruning when done early in a tree's life.

After being topped, this large maple re-sprouted and regained its height in just a few short years, while decay set into the branches.

When you think about it, the cost of Tree-Topping is greater than you think!  Once it is topped, a tree must be topped every few years and eventually must be removed when it dies or the owner gives up. This will cost lots of money.  Proper pruning actually improves the health and beauty of a tree, needs less maintenance, and costs less in the long run.

Think before You Top your tree. Get the facts. Becoming an educated consumer can save you money and save your tree from many misinformed tree workers and landscapers.  Contact your local Penn State Extension office or DCNR Bureau of Forestry office for more information. Attend tree care workshops and learn about pruning and national tree care standards. Hire an ISA Certified Arborist to care for your tree. They've received extensive training and passed a comprehensive exam on tree care practices.

Download the following publications that focus on proper tree pruning and the effects of tree topping:

Don't Top Trees - Penn State Extension

Pruning Landscape Trees - Penn State Extension

Don't Top Trees - A National Arbor Day Foundation Publication 

What is Wrong with Topping? - a Purdue University Publication

Why Topping Hurts Trees - an ISA publication

Pruning Shade Trees - Resources from Dr. Ed Gilman, University of Florida