Here is a Cedar of Lebanon we worked on last week. The tree had previously been excessively thinned out, gutting it of all its internal growth and leaving only tufts of foliage on the tips of the branches from which the tree had pushed out a vast amount of reactive growth. When this kind of work is carried out it’s known as lions tailing. Thinning trees is often touted as a sympathetic approach to pruning however internal growth is vital in buffering the forces of strong winds through the crown. When these branches are removed it completely changes the structure of the tree intensifying the lever arm effect on the limbs and increasing the likelihood of a failure. Any thinning of a tree to the point of allowing more light through the canopy will be excessive and we always try to steer clear of this kind of work. To mitigate the problems caused by this previous pruning we reduced the tips by approximately 1m to good growth points as well as crown lifting over the road, removing an over extended limb encroaching onto the property and clearing the phone lines. Whilst I pruned the Cedar young Diego carried out his first ever dismantle removing the adjacent Walnut and then after lunch I pruned the Beech behind.