Recently, Lumberjacks was featured on Local 3 News, highlighting our award-winning business and longstanding dedication to our customers and community. Since 2012, the Lumberjacks brand has focused on providing safe and efficient solutions to customers in the Chattanooga area. Founded on the principles of being transparent and trustworthy, both Lumberjacks Tree Service and Lumberjacks […]
5 Reasons to Stop Topping Your Trees
Lumberjacks Tree Service
Stop, Drop, Don’t Top
“Topping” a tree refers to the most harmful tree pruning practice known. For over 25 years, literature, seminars, videos, webinars and more have warned against this damaging and outdated practice, though it is still commonly used among the uneducated.
Topping of trees, also known as lopping, hat-racking, tipping, and rounding over, is the drastic removal of tree branches to stubs or to lateral branches that are not large enough to assume the role of the main support system of the tree.
In most cases, topping is used to reduce the size of a tree, and many homeowners take on this work themselves. Not only is tree work for an untrained person a safety risk, topping is not an appropriate method for reducing height and causes long-term damage to the tree. Topping should not be confused with proper pruning of a tree. A topped tree is easy to spot: The natural shape of the tree has been destroyed, leaving stubs of branches with no leaves. With proper pruning, it may look as if no work has been done at all. A certified arborist carefully selects and removes branches that beautifully maintain the natural shape of the tree.
5 Reasons to Not Top a Tree:
With spring just around the corner, the questions about Bradford pear trees have started to roll in. The bottom line: These are some of the worst trees you can have on your property. Let’s break it down: Invasive Troublemakers: First, they’re not native to the area. Bradford pears may look innocent enough, but they’re […]
Dogwood anthracnose is a hazardous threat to dogwood species, including the beloved native flowering dogwood and Pacific dogwood trees. Introduced from Asia in the late 1970s, this fungal pathogen, Discula destructiva, has destroyed natural populations of flowering dogwood. 𝘚𝘺𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘰𝘨𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘦: – Tan spots with irregular purple margins on leaves, which progress upwards […]
It’s a common misconception that trees on your property can thrive on their own. But here’s the reality: Your soil isn’t naturally nutrient-rich, creating a challenging environment for urban trees. Soil compaction and the absence of a natural forest ecosystem are major contributors to tree decline in cities. Trees thrive in loose soil, where […]
Did you know the best time to prune a tree depends on when they bloom? When inspecting a tree for pruning, you’ll need to know if the tree blooms on the current season’s growth or last season’s growth in order to properly care for the tree. Cherry blossoms and dogwoods are a great example of current […]
Mulch volcanoes are a common sight in gardens and landscaping, but they are actually bad for the health of trees and plants. Mulch volcanoes are created when a large amount of mulch is piled up against the trunk of a tree. This creates a cone-like shape that resembles a volcano, hence the name. When […]
Stop, Drop, Don’t Top “Topping” a tree refers to the most harmful tree pruning practice known. For over 25 years, literature, seminars, videos, webinars and more have warned against this damaging and outdated practice, though it is still commonly used among the uneducated. Topping of trees, also known as lopping, hat-racking, tipping, and […]
Many times when people move into a new home, trees already exist on the property, and in new construction homes, trees get planted. Or perhaps you’re a property owner and want to add more shade or dimension to your landscaping, so you decide that planting trees is a great option. What many people don’t realize […]