City Home Page
What do we
mean?
Lateral or natural tree trimming is a technique where trees are trimmed at nodes. As shown in the accompanying illustration, branches are not "shortened" in lateral tree trimming, but removed in their entirety. Making cuts between nodes leads to excessive sprouting, and to cracks and rot. Cracks and rot are major causes of branch and trunk failure.
These techniques lead to an unusual appearance of the tree when viewed from the side. In the accompanying illustration, the three dots represent the power lines. The tree is viewed from one pole to the next. Note that from the house or street, the tree appearance would be normal.
