Author Topic: Does topping and heavy pruning harm a tree?  (Read 1699 times)

arvind

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Does topping and heavy pruning harm a tree?
« on: June 21, 2019, 06:24:31 AM »
I noticed among many fruit growers here(no offense I hope)
and also those I personally know seems to think that topping and heavy pruning to manage the height of a tree is acceptable.In addition , agricultural department in my country seems to think it's acceptable.Here fruits trees like rambutan and mangoes are heavily pruned to stimulate better fruiting and manage the tree size.However I found out the opposite is what arborist websites and channels on you tube thought about the practice.According to them topping and heavy pruning shortens the lifespan of trees.I wonder if those arborist could be wrong? Besides most of trees that they deal with are ornamental trees.As for fruit trees there's something that is called economic lifespan and therefore there is no need for the trees to live long.Any thought?
« Last Edit: June 21, 2019, 06:26:16 AM by arvind »

pvaldes

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Re: Does topping and heavy pruning harm a tree?
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2019, 08:01:31 AM »
> topping and heavy pruning shortens the lifespan of trees

It depends on species of tree, but basically is true, yup. Heavy pruning is bad for trees and can kill it at long term.

arvind

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Re: Does topping and heavy pruning harm a tree?
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2019, 08:33:07 AM »
 I suppose if it promotes flowering and makes it easier to collect the fruits it's okay.besides the main reason a fruit trees being cultivated is for their fruits

SeaWalnut

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Re: Does topping and heavy pruning harm a tree?
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2019, 08:43:12 AM »
By topping a tree you can make it be immortal if it sends new shots from the roots.When i want to make an old tree young again,i give it a chainsaw trim.Somme fruit trees can exhaust themselves by breeding making fruits and die too young.Spondias are notorious for doing this.
 I had to trim somme apple trees this year because they made soo manny apples that the weight of them broke their branches. Off course this practice doesnt work with any specie of fruit trees .

sahai1

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Re: Does topping and heavy pruning harm a tree?
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2019, 01:02:22 PM »
while topping may shorten the lifespan of the tree, the lost lifespan is very unproductive.  The fruit quality an count of 100 year old mangoes that grown into canopy trees is less than a well maintained tree 1/10 the size.  Plus how you going to pick those mangoes up there?

pineislander

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Re: Does topping and heavy pruning harm a tree?
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2019, 04:00:34 PM »
It does depend on the tree but nature itself does quite a bit of pruning and topping. For example during hurricanes which are a typical feature of many tropical locations. Ice storms and forest fires do their part in temperate climates. Some of our fruiting trees are pioneers, short occupants with short lives, some live longer lives, and some live very long lives. So, depending on which tree you are talking about pruning should be done with that in mind and to get a reasonably easy harvest as mentioned.
Also by choosing dwarf varieties, dwarfing rootstocks, etc. less pruning can be done.

Today I had the chance to work on a lychee farm using a man-lift/ cherry picker. The basket was large enough for three of us and two 25 gallon bins for the fruit. One operator maneuvered the machine and two of us picked 200 lbs per hour, one large tree yielded nearly 500lbs fruit. They also use that machine to pick large mango and other trees. It has allowed the farm to let lychee grow very large and yield far more yet still be harvestable in a safe and efficient way so with the right tactics tree size can actually be a benefit.

arvind

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Re: Does topping and heavy pruning harm a tree?
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2019, 10:05:47 PM »
while topping may shorten the lifespan of the tree, the lost lifespan is very unproductive.  The fruit quality an count of 100 year old mangoes that grown into canopy trees is less than a well maintained tree 1/10 the size.  Plus how you going to pick those mangoes up there?
I believe that makes sense since in farms it's important to manage the height and also ensuring high yield

arvind

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Re: Does topping and heavy pruning harm a tree?
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2019, 10:10:48 PM »
By topping a tree you can make it be immortal if it sends new shots from the roots.When i want to make an old tree young again,i give it a chainsaw trim.Somme fruit trees can exhaust themselves by breeding making fruits and die too young.Spondias are notorious for doing this.
 I had to trim somme apple trees this year because they made soo manny apples that the weight of them broke their branches. Off course this practice doesnt work with any specie of fruit trees .
Immortal trees like trees that are pollarded.i  found plenty of pollarded trees on google and yes they are long lived indeed

sahai1

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Re: Does topping and heavy pruning harm a tree?
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2019, 04:52:54 AM »
just for perspective, you may have not seen, but mangoes can grow up to 100' tall, way beyond reach of boom truck, actually cut down 3 trees like this before and it was scary as $%^&

It does depend on the tree but nature itself does quite a bit of pruning and topping. For example during hurricanes which are a typical feature of many tropical locations. Ice storms and forest fires do their part in temperate climates. Some of our fruiting trees are pioneers, short occupants with short lives, some live longer lives, and some live very long lives. So, depending on which tree you are talking about pruning should be done with that in mind and to get a reasonably easy harvest as mentioned.
Also by choosing dwarf varieties, dwarfing rootstocks, etc. less pruning can be done.

Today I had the chance to work on a lychee farm using a man-lift/ cherry picker. The basket was large enough for three of us and two 25 gallon bins for the fruit. One operator maneuvered the machine and two of us picked 200 lbs per hour, one large tree yielded nearly 500lbs fruit. They also use that machine to pick large mango and other trees. It has allowed the farm to let lychee grow very large and yield far more yet still be harvestable in a safe and efficient way so with the right tactics tree size can actually be a benefit.

Das Bhut

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Re: Does topping and heavy pruning harm a tree?
« Reply #9 on: June 22, 2019, 05:46:57 AM »
yeah and fiberless mangos won't survive a minor fall so if they're where you can't see them you'll end up with lots of wasted fruit