Changed my mind on topping pines after the one on Delmar split in a storm

A big white pine on Delmar Street had a codominant stem, and the homeowner wanted it topped to cut wind load, which I always said was wrong. Well, two months later a storm came through and the whole thing split right down the middle, missed the house by about 6 feet. I felt sick because I had stood there and told her topping would wreck the tree, without ever asking about that V-shaped crotch. Now I put a cable and two braces in trees like that, and I also tell folks topping is still not the answer, but cabling might be. Any of you had luck billing for a cable job that a client only agreed to after a near miss?

1 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

1 Comment

xena_miller316d ago

Same thing happened to me about four years back, big red oak with a co-dominant stem over a driveway, and the guy only wanted a trim. Wind storm came through that fall and dropped half of it on his truck. He called me the next week ready to pay whatever for cables. That check felt good but the whole thing still bugs me, because I could have pushed harder on the brace option the first time instead of just saying no to topping. Now I measure every V crotch before I leave the bid, takes two minutes and saves a lot of regret.

5