Question about the 'never top a tree' rule in residential work

Last week in Springfield, a homeowner asked me to reduce the height of a huge silver maple by about 8 feet because it was hitting his roof. Everyone says topping is always wrong, but three years ago I did a similar reduction on another maple in that same yard, and it's growing back fine and healthy now. Sometimes a careful, planned reduction is the only safe option when a full removal isn't wanted. Has anyone else had to make that call on an old tree near a house?

3 comments

3 Comments

elliot_johnson311mo ago

Heard about a buddy who had a giant oak leaning over a garage. The owner refused a full removal, so he did a careful height reduction, not a hack job. That was five years back, and the tree is still standing strong with no major issues. Makes you wonder if the "never ever" rule is more about bad topping jobs than all reductions, right? Sometimes the textbook answer just doesn't fit the real problem in someone's yard.

dakota_patel981mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, careful cuts are key, @elliot_johnson31.

rileyb6126d agoTop Commenter

Yeah, "textbook answer just doesn't fit" sometimes. Did a hack job on my shed once and regretted it.