Severely pruning trees

[vetbridge]

@Pullet

25% pruning is way less than the pollarding I’ve seen around here.

Actually, many serious gardeners only use the term pollard for removal of branches “the diameter of a fishing rod”. If you mention the kind of “Crape Murder” discussed here, gardeners freak. If you go to gardenweb, or many other garden forums and search “crape murder” you can see it first hand.

[Pullet]

So, then, the trees near here that look like this actually are being incorrectly done?

[vetbridge]

@Pullet

So, then, the trees near here that look like this actually are being incorrectly done?

hehe. According to those more knowledgeable than myself, the only reason to cut a tree back like that is as a prelude to removal of the trunk.

[Spoke]

[QUOTE=Pullet]
By wrong, I mean mismatching the intended purpose. Planting one of these poplars or an Italian cypress as a shade tree and then pollarding it is wrong.

[quote]

“Wrong” in what way? Morally? Who is being harmed? I don’t get your frame of reference.

[quote]
Especially when there are so many other choices [PDF link]

Matter of taste. Poplars have the nice flowers mentioned above. Maples are pretty in the fall. Oaks provide the most shade, but also attract squirrels, which can make pests of themselves.

And apparently the Tulip Poplar Spoke- mentioned is actually a member of the magnolia family. It would seem that true poplars can be pruned up to 25% without damage to the tree. 25% pruning is way less than the pollarding I’ve seen around here.

Or are you referring to some other kind of poplar? I’m not finding any links that recommend pollarding true poplars. But my google-fu is known to be poor.

Tulip poplars are not “true poplars.” I have seen my dad cut them back to head-high stumps, with no long-term ill effects. They grow very quickly.

[Spoke]

[QUOTE=Pullet]
By wrong, I mean mismatching the intended purpose. Planting one of these poplars or an Italian cypress as a shade tree and then pollarding it is wrong.

[quote]

Those are not tulip poplars. That’s where your confusion lies. A mature tulip poplar can make a nice shade tree.

[quote]
Especially when there are so many other choices [PDF link]

Matter of taste. Tulip poplars have the nice flowers mentioned above. Maples are pretty in the fall. Oaks provide the most shade, but also attract squirrels, which can make pests of themselves.

And apparently the Tulip Poplar Spoke- mentioned is actually a member of the magnolia family. It would seem that true poplars can be pruned up to 25% without damage to the tree. 25% pruning is way less than the pollarding I’ve seen around here.

Or are you referring to some other kind of poplar? I’m not finding any links that recommend pollarding true poplars. But my google-fu is known to be poor.

Tulip poplars are not “true poplars.” I have seen my dad cut tulip poplars back to head-high stumps, with no long-term ill effects. They grow very quickly.

[Spoke]

@Pullet

By wrong, I mean mismatching the intended purpose. Planting one of these poplars or an Italian cypress as a shade tree and then pollarding it is wrong.

You are envisioning the wrong tree. Those are not tulip poplars. A mature tulip poplar can make a nice shade tree. See?

[quote]
Especially when there are so many other choices [PDF link]

Matter of taste. Tulip poplars have the nice flowers mentioned above. Maples are pretty in the fall. Oaks provide the most shade, but also attract squirrels, which can make pests of themselves.

And apparently the Tulip Poplar Spoke- mentioned is actually a member of the magnolia family. It would seem that true poplars can be pruned up to 25% without damage to the tree. 25% pruning is way less than the pollarding I’ve seen around here.

Or are you referring to some other kind of poplar? I’m not finding any links that recommend pollarding true poplars. But my google-fu is known to be poor.

Tulip poplars are not “true poplars.” I have seen my dad cut tulip poplars back to head-high stumps, with no long-term ill effects. They grow very quickly.

[Precambrianmollusc]

Exactly** spoke-** , you just need to trim your posts ruthlessly, then they grow back

[Mangetout]

@Pullet

Pullet = female chicken who has not started laying eggs yet (believe me, I’m sure of that one )
Capon = castrated male.

(what the hell am I telling you this for, Mangetout? You know this already :smack: )

You know, I must have had a brain fart moment in which I forgot how to read usernames. I can’t explain this oversight. I only read the post content, then responded to it. :smack:

[Spoke]

@NaturalBlondChap

Exactly** spoke-** , you just need to trim your posts ruthlessly, then they grow back

My posts sprout like poplars.

But they’re not nearly as pretty.

[Fear_Itself]

@Pullet

ETA: What’s with the multiple use of the word Pollard? I’ve been told it also refers to a female chicken that is developing male characteristics, which apparently is a tangent on the reference to a Pollard being an animal that has lost its horns. Weird

Pollarding | Origin and usage of term

To poll was originally a verb meaning to crop the hair, this being extended to similar treatment of the branches of trees and the horns of animals. A pollard simply meant someone or something that had been polled (similarly to the formation of “drunkard” and “sluggard”). For example, a hornless ox would be referred to as a pollard. Later the noun pollard became used as its own verb: “pollarding” from a neologism developed from the noun as happens frequently in speech. “Pollarding” has now largely replaced “polling” as the verb in the forestry sense. Pollard can also be used as an adjective: “pollard tree”.

[Precambrianmollusc]

@spoke-

My posts sprout like poplars.

But they’re not nearly as pretty.

I swear there were 3 blank posts in a row prior to my post.