 Re: Why Topping?
Dead tops in any tree species is a very bad indicator, in effect the tree has lost the ability to continue to grow through the apical meristem...even in strongly decurrent species, this forces the system to re-establish a new leader, re-establish hormonal control over the growth of all tips....its incredibly expensive energetically and the tree pays a great cost for it...often the cost is too high and the debt increases and increases until it can no longer sustain even the slightest environmental pressure and the whole system collapses..the tree dies.
Removing deadwood (certainly older deadwood) does no harm to the tree....it does (if removed from the area) rob the ecosystem of essential carbon resources, and this is a big issue in many parts of the world USA Canada and Oz.
I tend to argue for less and less deadwood removal these days, without targets there is no reason to do it, and plenty not to. Where targets exist, or owners are insistant then yes cut only dead tissue, don't fuss too much about getting very close to natural targets since with older deadwood the tree has already created the chemical barriers between the non-functional and functional tissues.
__________________ Sean  Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran
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