Hi guys,
I'm working on how best to prune this silver maple. It was basically pollarded(not intentional pollarding, just hacked the canopy off) around 4 years ago and hasn't been pruned since. In those 4 years it's grown a large canopy out of epicormic shoots. The canopy has little taper and there are lots of cavities and extensive decay at the points where the tree was intially cut back. Several large epicormic limbs have already come down in the wind.
How would you guys approach this? I've been up already. With multiple lines you can access most of it ok, though I was still a little worried about being able to get out to end of the really long shoots for reduction.
I started reducing it, but it didn't seem like I had many good options for cutting back to sustainable growth. It was more just removing the long drooping limbs, slowing down the largest epicormic growth and encouraging new ones where I cut back to, trying to keep new wounds away from the original wound sites.
The other option I thought of was to cut back behind the original pollarding and try to prune the new epicormic growth regularly to rebuild the canopy but I don't know if the tree could handle another huge shock and the homeowner isn't interested in regular maintenance.
I've written up a removal report as that would be the easiest solution and the one the homeowner is most keen for.
If denied, what would you suggest for pruning?
I'm working on how best to prune this silver maple. It was basically pollarded(not intentional pollarding, just hacked the canopy off) around 4 years ago and hasn't been pruned since. In those 4 years it's grown a large canopy out of epicormic shoots. The canopy has little taper and there are lots of cavities and extensive decay at the points where the tree was intially cut back. Several large epicormic limbs have already come down in the wind.
How would you guys approach this? I've been up already. With multiple lines you can access most of it ok, though I was still a little worried about being able to get out to end of the really long shoots for reduction.
I started reducing it, but it didn't seem like I had many good options for cutting back to sustainable growth. It was more just removing the long drooping limbs, slowing down the largest epicormic growth and encouraging new ones where I cut back to, trying to keep new wounds away from the original wound sites.
The other option I thought of was to cut back behind the original pollarding and try to prune the new epicormic growth regularly to rebuild the canopy but I don't know if the tree could handle another huge shock and the homeowner isn't interested in regular maintenance.
I've written up a removal report as that would be the easiest solution and the one the homeowner is most keen for.
If denied, what would you suggest for pruning?
