Why You Should Never Top a Tree

If a tree has gotten too tall for comfort, the obvious-seeming fix is to just cut the top off and bring it down to size. It feels like common sense. Unfortunately, it's one of the most harmful things you can do to a tree — and counterintuitively, it often makes the tree more dangerous, not less. This practice is called "topping," and understanding why it's so bad will save you money, heartache, and possibly your roof. Here's the plain-English version.

What "topping" is

Topping means sawing off the top of a tree, or cutting its main branches back to stubs, to make it shorter. It leaves the tree looking like a hat rack — big, blunt cuts where full branches used to be. It's commonly offered by less-qualified tree crews because it's fast and easy. But "fast and easy" for them is a bad deal for you and the tree.

Why it harms the tree

A tree's leaves are how it makes its food. Topping removes a huge share of those leaves all at once, which is a severe shock. Here's what follows:

• The tree is starved and stressed, leaving it weak and more vulnerable to insects and disease.
• The big stub cuts don't heal well. They become open wounds where decay and disease get in and spread down into the trunk.
• Newly exposed bark gets sunburned, causing more damage.
• The tree's life is often shortened. Topping is, plainly, bad for a tree's long-term health.

The part that surprises people: topping makes trees more dangerous

You'd think a shorter tree is a safer tree. With topping, the opposite tends to happen. After being topped, the tree panics and sends out a dense burst of fast-growing new shoots right below the cuts. And those shoots are trouble:

• They grow back fast — often taller than before within just a few years. So topping doesn't even keep the tree small for long. You pay to harm your tree and end up right back where you started.
• They're weakly attached. The new growth sprouts from the surface of the old wounds and is poorly anchored. As those shoots get big and heavy, they're far more likely to snap and fall than the tree's original branches were — especially in wind and storms.

So topping can take a sound tree and, a few years later, leave you with a taller, weaker tree whose branches are more likely to come down on your house. That's the opposite of what you wanted.

It costs you more, too

Topping isn't even cheaper in the long run. The tree grows back quickly and needs cutting again, the weak regrowth becomes a recurring hazard, and a topped tree that declines or fails can mean expensive removal and cleanup down the road. A harmful shortcut up front turns into a bigger bill later.

What to do instead

You can absolutely manage a tree that's too big — just the right way:

• Crown reduction (done properly). A skilled arborist can carefully reduce a tree's height and spread by cutting branches back to suitable side branches, lowering the tree's size while keeping its natural shape and health. It's the proper alternative to topping.
• Proper pruning to remove dead or hazardous limbs and reduce weight, without the shock of topping.
• The right tree in the right place. If a tree is simply too big for its spot and always will be, the honest answer may be to remove and replace it with something that fits — rather than topping it again and again.

How to protect your tree

The simplest safeguard: hire a certified arborist, and never agree to "topping." A qualified arborist won't even offer it, because they know it's harmful — so if a company proposes topping, that's your sign to find someone else.

If your tree is too tall or making you nervous, don't reach for the saw or the cheapest "we'll cut it down to size" crew. Find a certified arborist near you — they'll reduce it the right way or advise you honestly, and your tree will be healthier and safer for it.