Another butchered tree story: Magnolia

[bryanl]

Hi, up to last week I had a beatiful magnolia tree in my front garden that was about two and a half storeys tall and (I think) about 50 years old. I had allowed it to mature properly, only cutting away the low branches so that you could walk under it and every now and then cutting away branches that were criss-crossing each other. Unfortunately some of the upper branches started growing onto the balcony and against the roof. Just slightly mind, the problem wasn't that bad, but I thought the job was too dangerous to do myself.

We got some "professionals" in to trim it back a bit. Thing is, they came at 7 am on a Saturday morning, and everyone was still in bed. We trusted them to do a proper job. When I awoke at 8:30 I found that the tree was reduced to just under one storey high. The crown has been taken off entirely and the three main trunks have been reduced to three stumps with about 50-60 leaves in total left (out of perhaps thousands before). I don't know what possessed these idiots to do this, or what the hell their idea was. I specified that the tree should be thinned out a bit, not butchered.

Still, I guess my question is what the prognosis is now for the magnolia tree. Are there any magnolia experts out there? It looks so terrible that I'm thinking of perhaps putting it out of its misery and removing it. Will it grow back, and is there a way I can get it to grow back semi-properly? Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks.

 

[CaseyForrest]

Im pretty sure most everyone is going to ask for some pictures.

Thats a shame what happend, Magnolias are etremely beautiful trees.

 

[treeseer]

Yes it will likely resprout. It will decay at the bigger cuts. Restoration pruning will thin out the sprouts and train it to a more stable shape.

Did you pay them for doing this work/

Did you have a written contract?

How does their ad read?

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Where is bla?
Your location can be important to your question.

 

[bryanl]

hehehe, yes, "bla" is just outside Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

i haven't got a bill yet, so haven't paid any money yet. have no written contract either though.

i noticed today that some of the remaining leaves are starting do shrivel up a bit.

i'll try and get a photo up in the next day or so

 

[Dadatwins]

Were these licensed and insurred contractors?, what were their qualifications?
Why did you chose them, price? recomended? How many other 'professionals' looked at the job before you decided on this company? did you do any research about the work before hiring them? I understand you are angry about the probable loss of the tree, and the questions are meant as a warning to others before they end up in similiar situations.

 

[bryanl]

No, I didn't check any of those things, which I admit, in retrospect, I should have. I phoned an arborist in the Yellow Pages.

But when I go to get my hair cut I don't check the reputation of the place either, I assume they won't cut my head off, leaving only a stump-like neck behind. :greenchainsaw:

 

[bryanl]

Here are some photos as promised.

I wish I had a "before" photo as well. To give you an idea, before the crown reached out over and above the lamp post (as seen from the second photo), and you wouldn't have been able to see the top of the roof from the position the photo was shot, especially at this time of year, with all the thousands of leaves blocking it out.

Some of the cuts made look very odd, if you ask me.

So, is there any hope for this tree, which had a natural, developed form up untill last week? Or will it grow back as an ugly mess?

 

[Ax-man]

That is what I call a hack type " top" job by every definition of the word. I wouldn't pay for that in full.

We just recently had a thread concerning a Willow and a Maple , they don't look any where near as bad as this poor Magnolia does.

Larry

 

[treeseer]

Cuts are horizontal, internodal, large, deep into crown, very poor.

A big concern right now is sunscald--that is thin bark, newly exposed to solar radiation. If you keep the tree, paint the skyward-facing surfaces with white latex paint.

Re paying, don't, yet.

What does their yellow pages ad say? If they claim to be more than they are, you have more leverage in refusing payment. You could possibly sue them for the (previous) value of the tree.

 

[Ekka]

That tree was at the tender age when it required some formative pruning .... that's all.

You had taken better care of it than those hacks.

Why did they choose to top it at that height, because it was probably the convenient ht to get it with a pole saw or standing on the top of the truck.

I'm a one man vigilante down here. And this is an ad I run and flyer I hand out. I'm sick of these hacks, cowboys, whatever just dob them in and make life hell for them.

Report them to the authorities and seek restitution, can you check up on local rules for pruning standards?