A fit
- An oak or other shade tree topped in the last few years.
- Limbs stripped bare on the inside, with foliage only at the tips.
- A trunk that is still solid.
Veteran-owned | Marion County and Ocala
How restoration pruning treats topped and lion-tailed trees
A topped tree is not safer. The sprouts that shoot from the stubs break easier than the limbs they replaced. Restoration pruning thins those sprouts. It does not top the tree again.
Key takeaways
- Topping, also called hatracking, chops the crown back to stubs.
- Lion tailing strips the inside of the limb and leaves a puff of leaves at the end.
- Both grow back weaker. Marion County treats hatracking and flush cuts as tree abuse in its land-development rules.
- We do not top trees to make them smaller. Topping is only a last resort instead of removing a hazardous tree.
You can see a bad old cut from the street: a row of stubs, each with a broom of new shoots. Cutting those shoots off at the same stub repeats the damage. The repair is to pick one or two shoots and shorten the rest over time.
Who this job is for
A different service
- You want the tree shorter before hurricane season by chopping the top. That is the cut we will not sell you.
- The tree is dead or falling toward the house. That is removal.
Before the crew arrives
A photo of the stubsA photo of the whole crownThe year it was topped, if you know it
What happens, in order
- 01
Look
We find the old heading cuts and see which sprouts have a chance of holding on.
- 02
Decide
Keep and restore, or remove. You hear that before the crown is opened.
- 03
Do
Weak sprouts come off. A few stay to become the new structure. We do not cut flush to the trunk, and we do not leave long pegs.
- 04
Leave
The tree looks thinner, not scalped. The next visit is on a later season, not next week.
Ordinary ground-level pruning is described on the tree services page. If you need a ladder, it is ours. See also what restoration pruning is and a multi-year restoration plan.
Send photos of the old cuts
If the trunk is sound, we can stage the crown. If it is not, we will say removal.