Our amenity arboriculture services relate to the management and care for trees that were primarily planted for aesthetic and recreational purposes. Such as those found in parks, gardens, urban areas, and public spaces, focusing on their benefit to people rather than timber production. Tree Assist focus on the science and practice of caring for “amenity trees” within the broader field of arboriculture.
The reduction in height and/or spread of the crown (the foliage bearing portions) of a tree. Crown reduction may be used to reduce mechanical stress on individual branches or the whole tree, make the tree more suited to its immediate environment or to reduce the effects of shading and light loss, etc. The final result should retain the main framework of the crown, and so a significant proportion of the leaf bearing structure, and leave a similar, although smaller outline, and not necessarily achieve symmetry for its own sake.
Reductions should be specified by actual measurements, where possible, and reflect the finished result, but may also refer to lengths of parts to be removed to aid clarity, e.g. ‘crown reduce in height by 2.0m and lateral spread by 1.0m, all round, to finished crown dimensions of 18m in height by 11m in spread (all measurements approximate.)’.
Crown lifting is the removal of the lowest branches and/or preparing of lower branches for future removal. Good practice dictates crown lifting should not normally include the removal of large branches growing directly from the trunk as this can cause large wounds which can become extensively decayed leading to further long term problems or more short term biomechanical instability. Crown lifting on older, mature trees should be avoided or restricted to secondary branches or shortening of primary branches rather than the whole removal wherever possible.
Crown lifting is an effective method of increasing light transmission to areas closer to the tree or to enable access under the crown but should be restricted to less than 15% of the live crown height and leave the crown at least two thirds of the total height of the tree. Crown lifting should be specified with reference to a fixed point, e.g. ‘crown lift to give 5.5m clearance above ground level’.
You may be surprised to see deadwood forming within your trees crown, or worse, you’ve had a near miss with some fallen dead that you hadn’t noticed above your head.
It is very important to inspect all of your trees for major deadwood, especially when the trees are overhanging an area of footfall or congregation, as this can be a major safety concern for you, your family or third parties accessing beneath the trees crown.
If you do spot deadwood, try not to worry, this is part of a trees life and growth cycle.
Crown thinning is the removal of a portion of smaller/tertiary branches, usually at the outer crown, to produce a uniform density of foliage around an evenly spaced branch structure. It is usually confined to broad-leaved species. Crown thinning does not alter the overall size or shape of the tree. Material should be removed systematically throughout the tree, should not exceed the stated percentage and not more than 30% overall.
Common reasons for crown thinning are to allow more light to pass through the tree, reduce wind resistance, reduce weight (but this does not necessarily reduce leverage on the structure) and is rarely a once-only operation particularly on species that are known to produce large amounts of epicormic growth.
Pollarding was traditionally carried out on tree as a form of repeated methodical pruning in which the upper branches of a tree are removed. It was originally used to produce wood to fuel fires and fodder for livestock.
Now, pollarding is usually done for aesthetic or management reasons, as it is a great way of keeping trees around in a place that might not accommodate the full-size tree (think London street trees). This is usually done as a younger tree as it helps the tree to recover once the initial pollard has been completed, but this can be done to older trees if necessary, at a risk.
Certain species are suited to pollarding, such as: Lime (Tilia), Beech (Fagus), Oak (Quercus), Maple (Acer), London Plane (Platanus), Horse Chestnut (Aesculus), Willow (Salix). These are just a few and this list is not extensive.
A veteran tree can be defined as: ‘a tree that is of interest biologically, culturally or aesthetically because of its age, size or condition’. Some trees are instantly recognisable as veterans but many are less obvious.
An alternative approach used by some people is to consider that the veteran, or ancient, stage is the final one in the life of a tree when the cross-sectional areas of successive annual rings in the main stem begin to decrease progressively. (Before this stage, successive rings will have already narrowed, but their areas will have been roughly constant, owing to their increasing girth.) In turn, the amount of leaf area that can be supported by the reduced annual increment eventually results in dieback of the crown. For this reason veteran trees are rarely tall with large crowns. In theory this definition sounds fine but in reality this growth phase may not be clearly recognisable even though it may be the longest one in the tree’s life.
Tree Assist Ltd are dedicated to providing high quality tree surgery and vegetation management. Our services are available, but not limited to, Hampshire, West Sussex, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Surrey and London.
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