Geelong, Bellarine, Surf Coast
Tree lopping in Geelong
When a tree has outgrown its spot, what comes off and where it is cut decides whether it grows back sound or grows back worse.
Tree lopping
What a lop usually turns out to be
People ring about lopping for one of three reasons, and each of them is a different job once somebody has stood under the tree.
It has got too big
Height and spread reduced around the whole crown, back to growth points that can take over. A tree cut off flat at a line puts up a crowd of weak shoots from the wound instead, and they are the limbs that fail.
It is over the house
The limbs above the roof and the gutters taken off and the rest of the tree left alone. Often a smaller job than the one being described on the phone, and it gets quoted as the smaller job.
It has to come down after all
Sometimes the reduction that would make a tree safe is most of the tree. When that is the answer it gets said before the quote, not after the climb.
Compared: removal, lopping or pruning, stump grinding or stump removal, council tree rules compared
How it works
From the first call to a clear garden
Nothing happens without a written quote you have agreed to.
Tell us about the tree
Call or send the form with the tree and what is worrying you.
A contractor comes to see it
A local tree contractor looks at the tree, the access and whatever sits underneath it, because a quote off a photo misses the things that change the job.
A written quote
The quote sets out the scope, what happens to the timber and the stump, and the date. It is the contractor's quote, and nothing starts until you accept it.
The work and the clean up
On the day the tree is dealt with as quoted, the green waste leaves on the truck and the lawn is raked.
Lopping questions
Stubs, regrowth and what it costs the tree
Is lopping bad for a tree?
Cutting limbs back to bare stubs is. The tree cannot seal a cut in the middle of a limb, so it decays from there while pushing out weak shoots above it. A reduction taken back to a side branch that can take over is a different cut and the tree closes it.
How much can come off at once?
Less than most people picture. It depends on the species and the health of the tree, and a contractor who has seen it will say what it can stand this year and what should wait for the next.
Are tree loppers and arborists the same thing?
They are words people use for overlapping work, and the word on the van settles nothing. What settles it is what is proposed for your tree and whether it is written down before anybody starts.
Do I need a permit to have a tree cut back?
It depends on the tree and the council. Overlays and local laws around Geelong can cover cutting into a tree and not only taking it out, so the position gets checked before a price is given.
