Your position is silly OOMT, you can't have your cake and eat it too.
You can tap out the star bangled banner with your mallet all day long my friend, but it still won't magically change secondary growth back into strongly attached primary growth, that's why topping trees is a no no junior.
The reality is it happens, and once it happens, it will have to keep happening in order to maintain any semblance of structural integrity short of removing it.
But by all means, spread your miracle treatment to newbies so their reputations get shreaded in the next storm, along with their clients homes
How long you been in this biz again?
jomoco
LOL.
Jomoco once again, in attacking me rather than my reasoning, you show that your own top, top and retop idea has no scientific or economic value. As for this little gem
But by all means, spread your miracle treatment to newbies so their reputations get shreaded in the next storm, along with their clients homes
it just goes to show how little attention you pay to other peoples posts.
Here is a snippet from the OP.
I have observed that many branches have broken away from the edges of the previous cuts and I suspect that the larger tops are just as likely to have poor connections.
Without any work done these trees are already shedding branches. So you suggest making topping cuts 12 feet above the existing ones. Let me explain the sheer stupidity of that comment to the readers. Once you make an internodal cut on a Euc it will activate multiple nodes close to the cut. Instead of 1 branch you will now have 3,4,5,6 or more. As this growth is emergency growth to replace much needed food factories (leaves) it will go upwards very fast and produce 2 or even 3 times as many leaves as was on the original branch. So now you have a branch that is longer, heavier and has far greater wind resistance than ever before. No surprise that, like the photograph I showed earlier, they snap off at the union.
How long you been in this biz again?
Have you ever noticed how people with much practise at doing the same thing wrong over and over again call it experience?
If you are reading this and don't know which way to turn I suggest you go to an unbiased source. Try any of Alex Shigo's books but in particular I suggest A New Tree Biology (heavy reading but great for detailed knowledge) or Modern Arboriculture. You may also read An illustrated guide to pruning by Edward Gilman. Both these authors are highly regarded by arborists around the world and both of them slam topping for what it is. Bad tree pruning.
Matt if the client is prepared to pay for a long term program rather than a quick fix then may I suggest a mix of the following.
Remove trees which are dangerous or simply not cost effective to save.
Plant more than you remove choosing a species that is appropriate for the conditions.
Reduce existing trees as noted above.
Installation of non-intrusive dynamic cabling for high risk trees such as Yale brace or Cobra.
Mulch rings as wide as can be fitted in to the landscaping around each tree.
Plastic gutter guard for the buildings. Way cheaper than pruning trees to keep leaves out of the gutters!
I do not live in your part of the world. I live in Australia where more than 800 of the 894 Eucalypt species come from. I work with Eucs 3 days out of 5. In perth alone there are upwards of 1 million publicly owned Eucalypts in public parks, streets, verges, schools, hospitals and of course back yards. I am not the be all and end all of Eucalypt care. Far from it. But what I know I am 100% certain of and back up my arguments with facts you can check for yourself.
Sorry for the rant but I simply cannot abide bad practise being passed off as good ESPECIALLY by someone who should know better.
To answer your question, almost everyone on here will have faced this before. We're sick of seeing it.
