Is tree topping bad? Why arborists advise against it and what to ask for instead
Updated · KeystoneProGuide editorial team
What is tree topping?
Cutting a tree's branches back to stubs to make it shorter. The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), the profession's credentialing body, defines it as "the indiscriminate cutting of tree branches to stubs or to lateral branches that are not large enough to assume the terminal role." Doylestown Borough's tree ordinance defines it more plainly, as removing branches from mature trees "leaving stubs and large wounds". Penn State Extension groups it with "rounding over" and "heading back" as forms of improper pruning, and PECO names topping and rounding over together as practices it does not use.
Why do people top trees?
Usually to make a big tree feel safer, often right after a storm. Penn State Extension says that following storms "a dramatic increase in poor maintenance and pruning occurs, such as tree topping", because people think a smaller tree will not fail in the next storm. It says that in the long run the opposite is true. Topping is also often quicker and cheaper on the day: Penn State says it may cost less and take less time and knowledge than proper pruning cuts.
What does topping do to a tree?
Penn State's pruning guide lists the effects:
- Less food. Removing the crown reduces the tree's ability to make food.
- Weak regrowth. Numerous water sprouts grow quickly from the cuts. They are weakly attached and form a dense, unwieldy new crown.
- Decay. Decay can move quickly down through the tree from the wounds.
- Sunscald. With the protective branches gone, the remaining bark can scald, which draws insects and infection.
- Storm damage. Topped trees become more susceptible to storm damage.
- Lost value. Topping can reduce the value of a large ornamental tree by thousands of dollars.
ISA says topping "is perhaps the most harmful tree pruning practice known" and that it can lead to unacceptable risk, stress and decay, as well as being expensive and destroying the tree's natural form. Penn State's Master Gardeners say an ISA-certified arborist would never recommend it.
Does the utility top trees under its lines?
PECO says it does not. Its maintenance page says PECO "does not practice 'topping' or 'rounding over' of live, healthy trees", because that "can cause a flush of fast growing sprouts that grow directly back into the wires." Instead it uses directional pruning, which aims to make the tree grow away from the lines and which it says is adopted in the national pruning standard, ANSI A300, and by ISA as a best management practice. PECO also says it follows ANSI A300 when pruning for line clearance. Trees cleared this way can end up looking lopsided. Penn State says utility-pruned trees may resemble a chair or a stair step, or lose one side entirely. That is a different thing from topping. Whether you or the utility is responsible for which wire is covered in who trims trees near power lines.
If not topping, then what?
It depends on why the tree needs to be smaller.
- Reduction. ISA says a tree's height or spread is best reduced by cutting branches back to side branches large enough to take over, at least one-third the diameter of the cut stem. Penn State gives an example: a 3-inch branch would be cut back to a side branch at least 1 inch across. Reduction keeps the tree's form and strength.
- Removing whole branches. ISA suggests removing small branches back to their point of origin.
- Thinning or raising. If the complaint is shade, wind or clearance, removing some interior or lower branches may solve it without reducing height at all.
- Several small cuts over time. Penn State recommends multiple small reduction and removal cuts over time instead of shortening treetops.
- Removal and replacement. ISA says the best solution is sometimes to remove the tree and plant a species better suited to the site.
Is there ever a time when topping makes sense?
Only in one case. Penn State says topping becomes appropriate only when a tree is being removed and its limbs are shortened in sections as it comes down. It also distinguishes a "heading cut", which may be needed to repair storm damage or reduce the weight of a large limb, from topping, which reduces a tree's size "without regard to long-term tree health or structural integrity."
Can a topped tree be fixed?
Sometimes, with patience. Penn State lists "restoration" among standard pruning objectives: improving the structure and form of trees after topping, severe heading or storm damage. Have a qualified arborist look at it first: ISA says an arborist familiar with tree risk assessment may suggest pruning out defective branches, cabling and bracing, or removal, and that cables and braces are not guarantees against failure.
How do you avoid paying for it?
Read the quote. The cost sites still list the service: Angi prices topping at $400 to $800 a tree, while Fixr puts ordinary trimming at $175 to $750. Penn State suggests considering another company if "topping" or "rounding over" appears in the paperwork, and says reputable companies generally do not offer it. Ask instead what kind of cuts will be made and to what size of branch, and get that in the contract. The other contract points are in how to choose a tree service, and the published prices in what tree work costs.
Sources
- Pruning Trees, International Society of Arboriculture (TreesAreGood.org)
- Pruning Landscape Trees, Penn State Extension
- Helping Trees Recover After Storms, Penn State Extension
- When to Call an Arborist, Penn State Extension (Allegheny County Master Gardeners)
- Routine Maintenance Improves Reliability, PECO
- Trees & Power Lines FAQs, PECO
- Chapter 25 Trees, Part 1: General Regulations, Borough of Doylestown
- How Much Does Professional Tree Trimming Cost?, Angi
- Managing Hazards and Risk, International Society of Arboriculture (TreesAreGood.org)
- Tree Trimming Cost, Fixr