After storm damage, it's tempting to just hack a tree back into a smaller, "safer" shape and call it done. Topping, cutting main branches down to stubs, is one of the most common DIY mistakes we see, and it almost always makes a tree more dangerous over time, not less.
A topped tree responds by sending out a burst of weakly attached new growth right at the cut points. Those new branches grow fast but are poorly anchored, which means the tree often ends up with more storm risk in a few years than it started with.
Real storm damage repair is about selective pruning, removing what's actually broken or hazardous while preserving the tree's natural structure. It takes more judgment than a chainsaw and a ladder, but it's the difference between a tree that recovers and one that's set up to fail again.
Have you ever seen a topped tree in your neighborhood that just kept getting worse over the years?
#TreasureValleyArborist #WeMakeRight
Authentic before/after photo of proper selective storm damage pruning versus a poor topping job, if available, or a photo of a tree recovering well after professional storm damage repair.
Canva text suggestion: "Topping trades one risk for a bigger one" or "The wrong fix grows back weaker"