How is crown reduction achieved?
The objective is to make cuts so that the foliage is left intact on the outer edge of the new, smaller canopy ideally, pruning cuts should not be evident when you stand back from the tree after pruning. Topping, shearing, tipping, and rounding over are not appropriate techniques for reducing the size of the tree because they compromise the trees structure and can cause decay. We would recommend when removing more than 30% of the foliage, that you consider dividing the job into 2 sessions, around 12 months apart to minimize sprouting and starch removal from the tree. To reduce the size of a tree with drop-crotch cuts, we shorten the branches that extend beyond surrounding branches. This maintains the approximate original shape of the tree. The tree is simply made smaller. The longest portion of the main branches will be cut back to an existing, smaller lateral branch that is large enough to assume the role of the branch. This is normally 1/3 to 1/2 the diameter of the removed branch. Ex
