leeharris13
ArboristSite Lurker
Hello everyone,
I have a customer that wants me to top his Magnolia. The tree is very mature and about 60'. He also wants the sides trimmed some, the side on the power line side more so so the power company doesn't butcher it. I explained that we could raise the canopy slightly and trim that side from the wires but it would be an ongoing Maint issue. He has another company that wants to top the Magnolia and remove about 50% of the total canopy. I explained to him that topping was bad and that was more canopy than he should remove. He said this "other company" swears they do it all the time and that it will look great.
This goes against everything I have ever learned, topping and 50% canopy reduction on a mature tree. Is there something out there that says topping is "OK" on Magnolias that I don't know about?
Can anyone provide a link or an article that says specifically one way or the other about Magnolias as I don't think a general article on topping is going to work with this customer. Thanks, Lee
I have a customer that wants me to top his Magnolia. The tree is very mature and about 60'. He also wants the sides trimmed some, the side on the power line side more so so the power company doesn't butcher it. I explained that we could raise the canopy slightly and trim that side from the wires but it would be an ongoing Maint issue. He has another company that wants to top the Magnolia and remove about 50% of the total canopy. I explained to him that topping was bad and that was more canopy than he should remove. He said this "other company" swears they do it all the time and that it will look great.
This goes against everything I have ever learned, topping and 50% canopy reduction on a mature tree. Is there something out there that says topping is "OK" on Magnolias that I don't know about?
Can anyone provide a link or an article that says specifically one way or the other about Magnolias as I don't think a general article on topping is going to work with this customer. Thanks, Lee