Ahmed wrote:No, topping a Douglas-fir, no more than another coniferous tree will cause its death (there are even coniferous trees which reject outright stock!), But it is not an operation that I recommend on a practical level.
Indeed, as one can easily see, these trees have a strong apical dominance (in short, the main stem grows straight!) And the fact of cutting the arrow will cause the growth of additional stems located towards the place of sectioning ( it is a "hormonal" phenomenon); Starting from lateral buds, these stems will tend to straighten out under the effect of auxins and will form a bouquet which will replace the old single arrow fairly quickly. This gain in height will therefore be very temporary and will induce a possible greater fragility of the replacement rods (and greater wind resistance!).
Note: maybe your neighbor is looking for a good excuse to avoid fees?
It is also just as contraindicated to carry out such an operation on hardwoods, because the result is of the same order. It should also be noted that in all cases, the restoration of the original height (the one from which we wanted to be free) takes place very quickly due to the imbalance thus created between the leaf mass and the root mass. Any imbalance tends to be restored: here, the root reserves will come to the aid of the foliage (on which the roots depend); otherwise (significant removal of roots with intact foliage) there will also be an attempt to rebalance, but often unsuccessful, because leaf evapotranspiration cannot be compensated by the supply of water to the deficient root system.
Thank you, I would sleep less stupid tonight!
Not sure if to remember everything ...
In fact it is curious, there are about twenty years at our arrival, it is my neighbor himself who told me that the variety punctures following a topping, so he would never touch it except to kill them .
I almost told her, I don't care they don't bother me at all and until then ....
Here we are
I think he firmly believes it because he severely pruns all hardwoods nearby but never touches his beautiful Douglas ...
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of south windows and as if by chance his Douglas is in front, which protects him from the north wind!
In winter the lack of light / solar gain is felt at home.
I also think of putting PV on the roof, so it would be shade at the best hours, winter.
I haven't told her about it yet, but when the opportunity arises, I won't miss it.
it's going to be hard to fight against an ingrained belief ...
It was not the opposite that generated it if it reduced them, no I think he believes it ...
whatever.
We will try the 3 posts per day max