A tree Question?

[rodgy-dodge]

We have this Whitebeam Tree at the bottom of the garden. A beautiful tree but is becoming rather big and shading a large part of the garden. So here's a question for any tree surgeons out there can it be reduced? I did hear that if you cut a mature tree back more than a third it may possibly die. I would hate to loose it.

 

[ASC1951]

A nice looking specimen, rodgydodgy.

The RHS say the whitebeam only needs light maintenance pruning, in winter or early spring - http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=6159 - so any major work that you do do is going to be against the normal habit of the tree, and it won't like it. The general rule of thumb is that you should carry out all severe/rejuvenative pruning over three seasons, but IME you can be slightly more aggressive with something which is there for its foliage rather than its flower display or fruit.

To me the real issue is not killing the tree but producing a distorted shape which it never recovers from. Crown thinning is art as well as science, so if you aren't getting a qualified tree surgeon to do it I would have a good browse of the RHS etc sites and proceed carefully and slowly next February/March.

 

[rodgy-dodge]

To me the real issue is not killing the tree but producing a distorted shape which it never recovers from. Crown thinning is art as well as science, so if you aren't getting a qualified tree surgeon to do it I would have a good browse of the RHS etc sites and proceed carefully and slowly next February/March.[/quote]

Cheers ASC1951 I want to try and retain its dome shape, and sure the issue is I dont want to kill it. Having said dome, next door had a great big branch cut off it without my permission a few years ago (left hand side of pic) its now growing back and filling in nicely and thats why I wondered if I could cut it about a third but some how retain its shape. I had the tree surgeon round that cut the branch out to give him the loaded finger...he said he could thin it to filter the light through but I don't want it to look spindley.

 

[ASC1951]

I'm sure you could take a third off it just fine. There is this about crown thinning on the RHS website http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=276 but a diagram would be far more useful. What you need to do is to remove some branches entirely and shorten the rest by 15-20% from just above a bud.
- If you just take a third off everything you'll get loads of side shoots and the centre will get over-crowded;
- if you just take out some branches and don't shorten the rest you will get spindly growth and weak limbs.