This week town officials warned residents against topping – cutting back or improperly pruning – crape myrtles.
There have been several instances noted on South Main Street, South White Street and Brooks Street.
Although a tree sometimes needs to be pruned to avoid interference with utility lines, buildings or parts of the surrounding environment, whenever pruning is required, it is important to avoid the practice of topping.
Topping is the removal of tree branches above a certain height with little consideration for the tree’s structure or health. When topping occurs, tree branches are cut back to stubs or smaller branches which are not strong enough to grow back as a single, dominant branch, and instead, a flush of re-growth surrounds the wound.
According to the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), topping is a temporary and ineffective solution that actually makes a tree more hazardous in the long run. Other negative consequences of topping include the following:
*Topping “starves” trees by robbing them of their food-creating leaves.
*Topped trees create shoots in an act of defense, which grow quickly and are prone to breaking.
*Topping makes trees more susceptible to insects and disease.
*Topping reduces the number and size of flowers produced by crape myrtles and other flowering trees for many years.
*Topping creates “high maintenance trees” that are expensive to treat, repair and maintain.
*Topping makes trees ugly. Besides the harm it can cause your tree, a topped tree can be an eye-sore. Topping both destroys the natural form of the tree and creates stubs where branches used to flourish. Without leaves, the tree appears disfigured. Once a tree has been topped, it will never fully regain its natural form and beauty.
*Topping is not an acceptable practice within the tree and landscape industry.
The Wake Forest Urban Forestry Board wishes to remind residents that the topping of trees on public property is punishable by fines ranging from $100 to $1,000. In addition, the town is responsible for the maintenance and care of all street trees and schedules pruning annually in the late fall and early spring.
Residents who wish to report public trees in need of pruning are urged to contact Wake Forest Urban Forester Evan Keto at 919-435-9565 or eketo@wakeforestnc.gov. Keto is also available to answer questions and provide tips, resources and other information concerning proper tree care.
