Ekka said:
You haven't answered my question about why thinning would lead to a slow death?
This tree has already been raised, now you want to thin it, which will leave lions tailed branches, that Guy will tell us need reduction.
Raise it up, thin it out, top it, and that brings us to, cut it down.
This is not tree care.
Thinning does not make a tree stronger, in fact, study after study have shown just the opposite. The idea of thinning may have come from forestry practices, where crowded commercial tree farms are thinned to increase lumber production. It is also used to reduce certain fungal pathogens on certain pines. This was then extrapolated to thinning individual pine trees, to lessen needle fungus, then finally to deciduous trees.
Like with raising a trees crown, thinning give the tree an open look, that to the untrained eye may be appealing, and they are both low skill tasks. Low branches are easy to cut off and so are those in the middle along the trunk and main branches.
I agree with NE that crown thinning, like topping, crown raising, reduction, lions tailing, and other forms of over trimming, can be the beginning of the end. And as I pointed out at the beginning of this post, when one improper tree care practice is applied, it is often combined with others, for the extreme detriment of the tree.
I rank unnecessary branch removal right up there with spiking a trim, perhaps even worse.
Good lord! I need to find a new profession!
