Every spring in St. Louis, someone with a chainsaw and a truck knocks on doors offering to "trim that big tree down to size." What they usually deliver is topping: a tree hacked back to a few thick stubs that looks like a hat rack by the time they leave. It is the most damaging thing routinely done to shade trees in the metro, and it is still sold as trimming because it is fast, needs no skill, and looks like a lot of work. Thompson Tree Care and Landscaping does not top trees. This guide explains what topping actually does to a tree, what a qualified crew does instead when a tree really is too tall for its spot, and how to make sure nobody tops yours.
What is tree topping?
Topping is the cutting of a tree's main limbs and leader back to stubs or to small side branches that are not big enough to take over as the new ends of the limb. The cuts are made at whatever height the person on the saw decides the tree should be, with no regard for where the tree can seal a wound or where it can sensibly regrow. You will also hear it called hat-racking, heading, stubbing, rounding over, or tipping.
Topping is not the same as pruning, even though it is often sold under that name. Proper pruning removes specific branches at specific points for a reason: clearance from a roof, removal of dead or crossing wood, reduction of a limb that is overextended. Topping removes a percentage of the tree because it is there. On a mature oak, maple, or sycamore, a single topping job can take off half or more of the leaf-bearing crown at once.
Why is tree topping bad for the tree?
Topping damages a tree in several ways at once, and the damage compounds over the years that follow.
It Starves the Tree
Leaves are the tree's food factory. Removing most of the crown in one cut removes most of the tree's ability to feed itself, right when it needs stored energy to seal wounds and regrow. The tree has to draw down its reserves to survive, which is why a topped tree often looks fine for a season and then declines two or three years later.
The Stubs Decay
Trees seal wounds by growing tissue over them from the branch collar, the swollen ring where a branch meets its parent. A cut made in the middle of a limb has no collar to seal from, so a stub several inches across simply sits open. Decay fungi move in through the exposed wood and travel down the limb into the trunk. Ten years after topping, many trees have hollow limbs and cavities at every old cut. Our guides on whether a hollow tree is dangerous and what mushrooms growing on a tree mean describe where that ends up.
Sunscald on Exposed Bark
Bark that has spent decades in the shade of the canopy is suddenly in full St. Louis summer sun. The thin bark of maples and other smooth-barked species cracks and dies in patches, creating still more entry points for insects and decay.
Water Sprouts: Weaker and Taller
The tree's emergency response to losing its crown is to push out epicormic sprouts, dozens of fast-growing shoots from dormant buds just under the bark near each cut. These water sprouts are anchored only in the outer layer of wood, not in the structure of the limb, and they grow several feet a year. Within three to five years the tree is often back to its original height, but now the top is a dense broom of skinny, weakly attached limbs growing out of decaying stubs. That is the tree that sheds limbs in every thunderstorm. Topping does not make a tree safer; it makes a tree that will need to be dealt with again, and soon.
It Costs More, Repeatedly
Because the sprouts come back so fast, topped trees get topped again every few years, each time weaker than the last. A tree that could have been reduced properly once and then maintained on a normal three-to-five-year cycle instead becomes a recurring bill until it finally has to be removed. Topped trees are also plainly ugly, and a disfigured shade tree in the front yard lowers the value of the property it was supposed to enhance.
What should you do instead of topping?
Every legitimate goal behind topping, a shorter tree, a lighter tree, more clearance, less wind load, can be reached with proper pruning cuts that the tree can actually recover from.
- Crown reduction. Each limb that needs to be shortened is cut back to a lateral branch at least one-third the diameter of the limb being removed. That lateral takes over as the new end of the branch, the wound is small enough to seal, and the tree keeps its natural shape. Height and spread can be reduced meaningfully, usually by up to a quarter of the crown in one session, without triggering a sprout explosion.
- Crown thinning. Selective removal of interior and crossing branches lets wind pass through the canopy instead of pushing against it, which is often what a homeowner worried about storms actually needs.
- Crown raising. Removing lower limbs for clearance over a roof, driveway, or sidewalk without touching the top of the tree.
- Structural pruning on young trees. Establishing a single leader and well-spaced limbs while the tree is small prevents the oversized, competing limbs that tempt people to top later.
- Directional pruning near utilities. Limbs growing toward power lines are cut back to laterals that grow away from the lines, the same method utility arborists use.
Our tree trimming and pruning crews make every one of these cuts to industry (ANSI A300) pruning standards, and the cost of tree trimming in St. Louis for a proper reduction is not much different from what a topping crew charges to wreck the tree. Timing matters as well: most reductions are best done in the dormant season, and oaks should never be pruned from April through July. See the best time of year to trim trees in Missouri for the full calendar.
Sometimes the honest answer is that the tree is simply the wrong size for where it was planted. A silver maple twenty feet from a ranch house will always be too big, and no amount of reduction changes that. In those cases, removal and replanting with a species that fits the space is a better long-term decision than topping it every few years. Our guide to trees planted too close to the house walks through how to make that call.
Can a topped tree recover?
Sometimes. If the tree was healthy when it was topped and the stubs have not decayed far, restoration pruning can rebuild a reasonable crown over several years. An arborist selects the strongest, best-placed sprout at each stub to become the new leader of that limb, removes the competing sprouts gradually so the tree is never stripped again, and returns every couple of years to keep thinning until the new limbs have thickened and formed real attachments. It is slow work, and the result is never quite what the original tree was, but it can turn a hazard back into a shade tree.
Other topped trees are past that point. If the stubs are hollow, mushrooms or shelf fungus are growing from the old cuts, large sprouts have already begun failing, or the tree stands over a house, driveway, or play area, the risk usually outweighs what restoration can recover. A certified arborist assessment will tell you which situation you have. When removal is the answer, tree removal in the St. Louis area typically runs $300 to $2,500 depending on size and access, and our tree removal crew can usually grind the stump and leave the site ready for a better-suited replacement.
How do you make sure your tree service won't top your tree?
Most topping in St. Louis happens because a homeowner asked for a "trim" and did not know to ask what that meant. A few questions sort qualified crews from the rest:
- Ask them to prune to industry (ANSI A300) standards. A crew that does not know what that is should not be in your tree.
- Ask exactly which limbs they will cut and where. The answer should name lateral branches and branch collars, not a height.
- Walk away from anyone who offers "topping" or "rounding over." Also from anyone who says they will make the tree "half the size" in one visit.
- Be wary of door-to-door crews after storms. Storm chasers with a chainsaw are the most common source of topped trees in the metro. Ask for proof of insurance and a written estimate before anyone starts a saw.
- Get a second opinion on any recommendation to top. There is almost always a better option.
Thompson Tree Care and Landscaping has been pruning and removing trees across St. Louis, Kirkwood, Chesterfield, Florissant, O'Fallon, and Belleville since 2014, with more than 500 jobs completed and a 4.8-star Google rating from 60+ reviews. We are licensed and insured, estimates are free, and we offer senior and veteran discounts. If a tree on your property feels too tall, or has already been topped and you are wondering what to do with it, call (314) 712-3035 or request a free estimate online. We will tell you what the tree needs, and topping will not be on the list.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Topping makes a tree more dangerous within a few years. The stubs decay, and the water sprouts that grow from them are attached only to the outer wood, so they break far more easily than the original limbs. A properly reduced crown, cut back to strong lateral branches, is the safe way to lower a tree's height or wind load.
Usually, and that is the problem. A topped tree pushes out dense clusters of fast-growing sprouts that often reach the original height within a few years, so the tree ends up taller, denser, and weaker than before. Trees that were already stressed or decayed may not recover at all and instead decline and die.
Topping cuts limbs to arbitrary stubs with no regard for where the tree can seal the wound or regrow. Crown reduction shortens limbs back to a lateral branch that is at least one-third the diameter of the cut limb, so the tree keeps its natural form, seals the smaller wounds, and does not respond with a burst of weak sprouts. Crown reduction follows industry (ANSI A300) pruning standards; topping does not.
Often, with restoration pruning done over several years by a qualified arborist: the best-placed sprouts are selected to become new leaders and the rest are thinned out gradually. If the stubs have decayed badly or the tree is now hazardous over a house or driveway, removal and replanting is usually the better investment. Thompson Tree Care assesses topped trees free of charge.
