Crown reduction

Crown reduction diagram

A crown reduction is carried out to reduce the overall size and spread of the tree by a certain amount.

The operation is carried out by pruning the tips of each branch back to a suitable branch union in a manner which creates a balanced shape and outline.

The reduction specification can be described as a percentage (for example “reduce the crown by 30%”), an absolute amount (for example “reduce the crown by 3 metres”) or a target height and spread (“reduce the crown to leave the tree 18 metres high and with a crown radius of 6 metres”).