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Overheard a guy at the hardware store say he topped his own maple tree to 'let in more light'

He was bragging about it to the cashier, said he just used a ladder and a handsaw. That's a surefire way to ruin a tree's structure and invite decay. It made me think we need better public info on basic tree care. How do you handle it when a client asks for something that's clearly bad for the tree?
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3 Comments
elizabeth_chen
Ugh, did he also mention he waters it with gasoline? I picture this guy, standing under his new "sunlight tree" that's now just a giant, rotting lightning rod. Next he'll be shocked when the whole thing splits and lands on his shed. Some people just see a tree as a big, green lamp they can trim like a wick.
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michaelcoleman
Exactly right, @elizabeth_chen. Guy is basically building his own funeral pyre and calling it landscaping. That rotten core will give out in the next big storm. Then he'll be crying about his crushed shed, acting like it was an act of god and not his own stupid fault.
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sam_harris68
Exactly. Had a lady request I "limb up" her oak so high it would look like an umbrella on a stick. She wanted to park her RV under the last remaining branch. Told her to get a shade sail instead. She got someone else to do the hack job and now that oak looks like a giant Q-tip. Bet her neighbor loves the view of a half-dead tree snapping in a stiff breeze. Did you ever manage to talk that guy down from the ledge?
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