Pollarding trees / The how, why and when to do it

In this video we pollard 5 small London Plane trees, showing you before, during pruning and after. We show how pollarding is done correctly pruning all shoots down to the knuckles. We explain why people and organizations may choose to use pollarding as their management style.
#ClimbingArborist #Arborist #TreeWork

[@svenboets319]

Nice work! We in Europe are used to this tipe of pruning but even here in Belgium not everyone knows the difference between pollarding and topping Topping is NOT pollarding. Pollarding is a choice you make when the tree is still young , topping is chopping of big lims and stems to lower the hight of the tree without thinking about the health of the tree. A good pollard doesn't have cuts larger then 10cm (4") in diameter, that way you will not cut into the heartwood of the shoot so the tree can sealoff the fibers. this way fungi are less likely to enter the wood. And as Dan meantioned the lims of a pollard have week connections and if cutted small enough the woun't fail. When pruned as Dan explaned, the sugar of the tree will be stored in the knuckles, that way the tree has a large enoug storage of sugars to make new sprouts. The health of the tree will not suffer when done right, en pollards can grow verry old !!

[@arbolorian]

well pollarding starts with some topping cuts.

[@ClimbingArborist]

Thanks so much for your very insightful comment, much appreciated 😁🙏

[@francescotommasoni4517]

@@arboloriansure, but they should be planned and made when the tree is still young and thin. Selection of the branches according to the height, shape of the whole canopy and insertions on the trunk and you made a perfect pollard. When pollarding is a late choice than you have some issues with the sizes of the topping cuts and selection of the definitive branches and surely the tree will suffer more and show some decay. It's not perfection but you can still manage it. The real problem is the cost through the years.

[@arbolorian]

@ sometimes we "pollard" middle-aged trees for biological purposes in Sweden. Looks awful and destroy the overall health of the tree but that's the good thing about it in sterile landscapes where decay is needed.

[@AO_9]

Very interesting that you went into depth on pollarding! It's everything you shouldn't do to trees, but which is still a common practice. Here in Norway this is a standard practice in every city and town using Park Linden trees. Not a big fan when half the year all you see are rotten bare knuckles and ugly watersprouts 😅

[@ClimbingArborist]

Completely agree on the unpleasant winter look

[@geekay4703]

Hey Dan, arborist here. Never did pollarding. How do you initially cut the limbs on a tree that's never been pollarded? I assume you don't just top it. Also, can pollarding be initiated on older established trees? Thanks.

[@trasch-tree4829]

I think you actually just top it. BUT it has to be a decision early in the trees life, and there should be an astablished structure. Therefore the answer to your last question is no, you can not start pollarding older trees. Actually if you cut a big branch and then come back every so often, you can resemble pollarding, but its not a good practice and definitely not good tree care. Still it gets done near railways and in bigger trees that interfere with infrastructure.

[@smashmode8175]

Very cool. Never thought about street tree management for arborist. These pollarded trees look like Joshua trees almost. I enjoyed this video

[@ClimbingArborist]

Thanks you so much for your comment, happy to hear you enjoyed the video

[@riverliva792]

Thanks for the video, i was part of pollarding a main avenue in Strasbourg for 2 of 6 weeks. 1400 plaine! How do ypu like thst electric husky?

[@ClimbingArborist]

Love the Husqy battery saw, we have 4 of them

[@TimberTrainer]

I see a lot of rot with this practice. Is it beneficial to cut off the decayed knuckle? It seems likely to fail in a storm.

[@rexmundi9691]

There can be, and usually is, a lot of decay. That's another reason why this doesn't work for all species of trees. There are trees that are weak compartmentalizers, like birch, nuts, evergreens, etc. that you simply can't pollard because they aren't capable of outgrowing the decay. The European pollardable/toppable genus list isn't very long: Acer, Carpinus, Catalpa, Fagus, Platanus, Quercus, Robinia, Tillia, Salix. Those are the ones capable of withstanding topping, and the only ones I work with. Of which Quercus, Acer and Fagus aren't really suitable for pollarding, but can survive. Some species and cultivars do better than others. Usually the decay isn't a problem because there isn't a lot of structural need for the wood anymore, since we're also removing weight. It however does highlight that once the choice has been made, it requires continuous maintenance every 2-4 year. You keep the knuckle for as long as possible and if you can, try to train a new branch to take over the job. In that case, you remove the entire obsolete/dead branch, never just a knuckle. In general, when well maintained, pollarded trees live longer in the urban environment, because they can be kept around longer. Their stunted growth helps, as trees often get too big for the streets they are on.

[@ClimbingArborist]

Obviously it is species specific, Linden/Lime trees will like develop rot much faster, I’d say the knuckles do get heavy, but also the branches/limbs are much shorter and the leverage and forces likely reduced somewhat. But certainly is a consideration and part of management

[@marcofemto9417]

This is what we need where I live. All the trees just get topped though. They are all dying. All of the Mulberry and Pecan trees are dying and look horrendous

[@debroussaillageespacesvert8980]

Bonjour, On appelle cette méthode "taille en-tête de chat ". Il me semble avoir reconnu une photo d'une place de Sarlat la Canéda. Bonne journée

[@moglabob]

Is this practice species dependent, or can pollarding be done to all species? Is there any risk of lack of photosynthesis from cutting all sprouts? My crew pollards ficcus trees in our local zoo's rainforest biodome. We usually leave a little green because the trees dont go dormant in the warm and humid controlled environment. Should we be removing all green?

[@dr0pcr0tch]

platanus sp, are thin barked, and photosynthesis thru bark, to a degree. Great to reduce the occurrence of leaf anthracnose as well. Many folks get alarmed at the practice, but its very effective to preserve healthy biomass in urban settings.

[@ClimbingArborist]

A somewhat educated guess would say you could pollard most deciduous trees, just some species tolerate and react much better than others. London Plane trees are well known for pollarding as well as being good in City environments for multiple reasons. Other common trees are Linden and Willow.

[@francescotommasoni4517]

I don't think every tree tolerate pollarding but i can't tell a rule to follow. In italy they call these technique "testa di salice" that literarily translates as "head of willow" because historically was made by farmers on willow trees for wood production to make baskets and other items. They used to pollard even mulberry trees to get food for livestock because of the great amount of huge leaves they made after being severily pruned every year.

[@karendarbres]

I’d done early enough you can Pilates pretty much all broadleaved trees

[@batmantiss]

I don't like being the trimmer to initially pollard, but they do look handsome when done right

[@ClimbingArborist]

Yeah, it feels wired to do the first cut because you feel like you’re doing a complete hack job 😂

[@luizdasilav7995]

Yeeeee buddy

[@ClimbingArborist]

🤙