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My old boss in Sacramento always told me to never top a valley oak, but I saw a crew doing it last week.
He said it would just cause a ton of weak, fast-growing water sprouts and could actually kill the tree over time. I watched a company near Folsom cut the main leaders back by about eight feet on a big one, and it looked awful. Has anyone else had to explain to a client why topping is a bad idea after they saw someone else do it?
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gavin_jones107mo ago
Took a client to see a topped tree from two years ago. Showed them the crowded, brittle sprouts that had grown back and explained how each cut was now a potential rot entry point. They changed their mind once they saw the long term damage up close.
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caseyl186mo ago
Show them the real results. Seeing a topped tree a few years later is the best sales pitch against it. Those thin sprouts snap in the first ice storm, and the big cuts never heal right. It just makes a weak, ugly tree that costs more to fix later. Good on you for taking the time to show them.
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the_cora7mo ago
Honestly, topping is called crown reduction now to make it sound better. It still creates those weak sprouts and stresses the tree like your boss said.
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