We were gone for 10 days and our evergreen trees needed to be trimmed so my MIL hired her handyman (non-arborist) to trim the trees. They are two-story trees that provide privacy from other neighbors. I was mad when I saw that they topped them quite significantly and I was wondering what I should do next? I don’t think they will make it.
by hungryhungryHIPAA
19 Comments
My first step would be to find that handyman and even the score.
Unexpected hedge! But srsly they’re fucked
Those trees are done for. He killed them. If you wanna be nice about it, have him remove the rest of the tree and replace them with something fast growing, all for no cost to you. He owes you new trees legally, if he did this uninstructed. r/treelaw can give you more advice, but those arbs are toast.
Suing
To my knowledge, you only top an evergreen hedge when you’ve reached your desired height, and it’s a gradual process, never trimming into old wood drastically like that. Your hedge won’t die, but that top space will stay open like that.
Oooooffff, remove and replant
Gotta be honest… as much as in laws destroy people’s landscaping on this board I wouldn’t trust them anywhere in my yard unattended. And who just decides to treat their kids to a little tree topping? They’d be unwelcome at my house if that happened!
Always make sure to discuss what is meant by ‘trimming’ a tree when you hire someone. People have very different ideas of what that entails.
You’re getting a lot of bad advice here. The trees will be fine as long as the cut end heals properly which is highly likely! The top most branches will start to compete to become the new leader. After a couple years select the best one and trim the others. Treat these trees really well by watering during dry spells and they should be fine. My neighbor intentionally tipped his spruce every couple years and they just kept growing
Edit also I have a topped cedar in my yard that is thriving. It was probably two stories tall and the previous owner topped it at around 8 feet. In the two years I’ve been pruning it, it’s surpassing my eaves trough
Those look like white cedars, they’ll be fine, the tops will be rough looking for a little while but he didn’t kill them. The time of year isn’t even that bad for sun scorch either. As much as it annoys me to say, handy man did a reasonable job of that was your MIL request. Not great but not a sueable offense and certainly didn’t kill them.
Not gonna die. Gonna grow funky. I saw someone strap high to straighten the tree and snapped it. 5 years later now and it’s actually kinda cool. It Shaped up like a giant globe spruce.
Sounds like you got bigger problems than that tree, which is bad. I’m so grateful to not have a MIL, especially a decision making one. Good luck!
Did she have permission to do that?
It will grow two tops and fill in after a year. Why you hire a professional. Tried to cut corners and this is the result
A handyman isn’t a gardener.
I would much rather deal with garbage than garbage humans, you have a dream job
Don’t hire a handyman to prune trees. Even landscapers mess it up often. Pruning is art and science in one.
While it’s not ideal and she now created the conditions that will require more regular maintenance, they will survive. The trees will flush out new growth that will grown faster and need to be sheared in every year or two to maintain the shape and integrity.
A mentally handycappedman.