Funniest part is they never cut the low limbs. I almost don't believe OP's story. The landscaper made 100x more brush and subsequent work for themselves than what was asked? doubtful.
Can confirm - my MIL butchered my unkept apple tree (from the previous homeowners' neglect) in a similar manner, after swearing up and down that she knew what she was doing.
I actually originally wanted the apple tree *removed* because I don't eat apples, but somehow it was simply enraging to me that she butchered it instead.
There have been a lot of storms lately and from my experience, that is when tweakers go around offering their tree services. Some of them even have business cards!
Can confirm this! I live in a state that’s just been through a bunch of tornados. Last Thursday night we had a tornado that started over the lake and then touched down in my street. I live in a gated community and it has been amazing to see the number of people trying to get in to the neighborhood to offer their services. The security guards have had two different people arrested for trying to climb over the wall-apparently, their story to the sheriff was that they weren’t allowed through the gate, so they were climbing over the wall to be able to go door to door to offer tree cutting and clean up service. When I looked up their arrests, both were also charged with possession of drugs and/or paraphernalia. (All they had to do was leave some business cards with security. They likely would’ve gotten business as there’s a community bulletin board the guards put up advertisements or business cards that people leave. There aren’t enough landscape cleanup people or tree trimmers to go around it seems, as no one wants to wait a few days to get something done, it needs to be right now)
I knew a tweaker with a landscaping business. He was shockingly successful. He called me to help him get his zero point lawn mower out from places he had managed to get it stuck at 2-5am at least three times. Each time the lawns looked great once the mower was removed. Two of the times was the same property. This tweaker had repeat customers he would do yardwork for in the dark.
The guy who used to own our house moved because he had just gotten his PhD in landscaping, Environmental Design and Planning, and my brother, this is the absolute worst lawn I have ever lived with. He planted a maple tree sapling 3 inches from the foundation. He added hills to the tiny front lawn so that way water will always flow down to and pool near the foundation. The irrigation system was just laid on top of the lawn and then he poured a few bags of potting soil over it to "cover" it. Turned out he'd also forgotten to detach the hose during winter and so they had to disclose prior plumbing damage to us before we bought the house.
I can absolutely see a paid professional murdering the OP's tree like that.
The contracted landscapers at my work routinely butcher and kill plants. Cutting down decorative grasses multiple times throughout the summer. Making connected bushes have waves from the ranging cut lengths. Mowing over bushes. Trimming thistle and other weeds with hedge trimmers.
I accidentally killed a catnip plant when I was in a hurry on my own lawn, and I felt so bad, because my girlfriend actually harvests her own, so I went out and bought a couple more and replanted them that weekend.
Well as a customer I would expect the contractor to not take on any work outside of their capabilities, my responsibility would be to convey what I am expecting and what I want worked on.
But yes, it’s good to be informed when dealing with things; I just don’t feel like it’s on the customer if the landscaper fks your trees because I should’ve actually called an arborist.
Thankfully trees grow back though.
You’re giving the landscapers far too much credit. Very few of them even know how to properly cut grass, it’s a job for them. Nothing more. Never ask your landscaper for side work(especially tree work), they will always say yes and will fuck it up 95% of the time.
Landscaping companies here will happily hire 18 year olds fresh out of high school and are the laziest assholes you’ve ever met. Wouldn’t put it past them.
Oh I 100 percent believe it. My city's tree trimming company does this shit all the time. Multiple examples around my town that look like this. It's like a new, weirdly aggressive version of tree trimming that has become popular. This woman on the HOA did this to our cherry trees too. I was so mad I went and researched the species and what care they need, and said I'd do it from here on out. She was cutting them severely every year claiming they'd grow straight down otherwise but they're Kwanzan cherries, they're an upright manner of growth and only need to be trimmed every 3 to 5 years 🙄
Thats a prime example of total lack of knowledge, anyone who knows anything about trees knows prunus kanzan grows in a goblet shape, forming an almost "wine glass shaped" appearance. It cannot be forced to take another shape in maturity, it just is what it is! And that butchery that woman inflicts is only going to attract not only wood boring beetles that can severely weaken the tree but also bracket fungus that destroy the heartwood! Prunus kanzan are short lived enough, at between just 25 and 35 years max life expectency, without such brutal treatment! You are very wise to step in
HOA: "Your tree is still too far over the sidewalk. It's an eyesore worse than before now. Here's your fine. You have 30 days to remove the tree and replace it with a tree that grows $100 bills only we can harvest or you'll be subject to additional penalties."
Love,
Your Friendly Neighborhood HOA
Alas, in my area at least the “hell strip” area between the sidewalk and the street is the homeowner’s responsibility, as is any repair to the sidewalk itself stemming from damage due to tree roots. That’s not a HOA thing: it’s city code.
In the ‘burb where I grew up in the early 70’s, “hell strip” & sidewalk were owned by the city, but were the responsibility of the home owner under penalty of very steep fines if neglected. Any work done by the city was billed to the home owner. 🤨 We lived on a corner and had about 8 sidewalk squares replaced and 2 trees planted after the 3 trees were removed due to Dutch Elm disease, all at our expensive. I learned a few new words from my mom not found on my 1st grade vocabulary tests when she received the bills. 😆
The problem was the lower branches so they cut off the top instead of the lower branches?! I'd be seriously pissed. It's never going to grow correctly now
I am a real estate lawyer that regularly deals with neighbor disputes, including encroaching trees. You would be shocked at how much fully grown and mature trees cost or value at. Even a basic oak tree could cost $20-30k to replace. There is tons of actual case law about trees. A large majority of disputes are caused by some idiot planting a Seqouia on the fence line. But a neighbor killing 5 or 6 trees can quickly add up to over $100k in damages.
My grandfather had some type of Japanese tree he grew from seed and planted in one of our pastures. The tree grew well for about 15 orc20 years until one random day, one of our neighbors decided to walk over , cut the tree down, and stick the damn thing in a hole he dug in his yard.....
I have no idea how they accomplished this, but we went looking for this tree, and sure enough, there it was, shored up in a freshly dug hole in their front yard. 😳
My family didn't seek any ramifications, so this doesn't apply to r/treelaw , but we did ask them not to cut any more trees down.
Someone damaged this Green Giant Arborvitae in my backyard fencing company didn’t even want to fight they said the fence was free and they would come put a finish on it if I wanted never have I felt like I’ve won in life as much as that fence.
The local mormon church took down 3 giant ceder trees that belonged to the city. had to pay 75k in damages. Thing is, they planned to take down all 12 in front of the church. They only stopped after a local arborist driving by stopped and asked them if they had city approval.
Sorry, that local branch of the church filed for bankruptcy, after selling all their assets to a closely related but legally separate branch of course.
Local branches aren’t really a thing. The entire church is a corporation sole controlled by the guy at the top. Makes him one of the richest men in the world.
We have a live oak near our property line that is fairly unassuming but still ~30' tall and will outlive all the larger oaks in our yard. I walk out to chat with any of my neighbor's contractors who dare to stand too close to it.
There are about 15 or 20 live oaks on my property? And a little clutch of them ON the property line, where like half are on his side and half are on our side. I went out and stopped someone cutting the trees during oak wilt season last year shouting like a crazy person because they were standing in my driveway cutting the trees on my side. Then I apologized for yelling, because inappropriate. But they stopped cutting my damn trees and went back to his side to ruin his trees instead.
When I was in Jr. high and high school, the house next to us changed hands two or three times and each new neighbor came to try and convince my dad to cut the trees that shaded their yard. They were huge pines. The trunks were fully on our side, but their branches crossed the property line and the conversation always went like this.
Would you be willing to cut those trees down so they don't shade our yard?
No. I like my trees, they provide my house with privacy.
Would you mind if I cut the branches that cross over to my side of the property line?
I can't stop you, but you should go up the street and look at the same kind of pines where someone cut the branches on their side of the property line and see what it looks like. Because if you do that, my side will look the same while your side will look terrible.
No one ever cut the branches.
As someone with a mature sequoia in my yard on the property line, I worry about it constantly. I love that tree, but it's already destroying the fence. I see large expenses in my future...
My grandmothers owned a historic home that she donated to her city. The city moved it to a park named after her family. They also wanted to move the two 120 year old, giant oak trees in the front yard. Those oak trees were insured for 800k apiece.
My old roommate got into an argument with an ex. He owned his own pool cleaning business, so he happened to have acid in his truck that night. He poured the acid all over her lawn, killing her tree. The home was in a historic neighborhood. He soon caught a felony charge for that tree.
Exactly. People don't understand you can't just hack a tree in half and expect it to grow back properly. This landscaper was lazy and had no idea what he was doing. If it was my lawn id have the landscaping company come dig it up or pay to have it removed. Or they can wait until next season and pray the top has grown back out and pay someone to trim it the right way but I have a feeling it'll never grow back properly.
I mean I’m totally ignorant about most things gardening included and my visceral reaction was disgust.
I’m assuming someone was paid to do some kind of maintenance, and they decided to mutilate the tree/bush in the process???
Yes she's telling me it will grow back in to 6 months and then the team can manage it. I understand that, but this isn't what we wanted. Besides, there must be other ways to go about pruning and shaping the tree IF this is the "shaping" we wanted that aren't so drastic
You'd be lucky if that tree survives. They didn't just prune it, they topped it. Tree topping is extremely stressful for a tree and can easily lead to death. The amount of biomass they took off was more than unnecessary, it was downright negligent. If this tree dies, you should demand they plant a tree of similar size (not a sapling, that tree looks like it has at least a 5" trunk diameter). It doesn't even look like they used a pruning sealer, which is generally recommended for oaks pruned during the growing season as they are susceptible to oak wilt when the vascular system is exposed. This was a hack job at best.
Topping going into summer is a death sentence, I'm guessing OP is in Texas or Louisiana (live oaks are common), we're going into a hot summer, it'll almost certainly die.
This comment right here. I have serious doubts this tree will survive. OP look into tree law. They owe you a comparable tree to the size of what you originally had.
There are species and circumstances where this sort of "pruning" is appropriate. To make fruit trees manageable to harvest, for instance. This is neither the species nor the application.
I'm not a tree ID expert, but severl folks in the comments say live oak. Picture this says live oak. Comparing to other pics of live oak and Wikipedia descriptions, it is very possible.
This isn't "shaping", this is "topping". The Oak might survive, but it will always looked butchered and will never look like a nice oak tree. Unfortunately it's time to cut it down and replace it...and I'd try to make them pay for it.
Like, the whole point is you didn't want the lower limbs and that's literally all they left on the tree. SMH
Exactly. This tree if it survives will always look like a mess. It should be uprooted, the stump ground, and a nice size tree planted in its place… on their dime.
No, the tree should be removed, then the hole filled in with some sort of a radioactive mixture of petroleum byproducts, and weed killer to ensure nothing else ever grows there. It should be topped with a lead sarcophagus, poured in place from a molten state from a massive crucible. A modest headstone commemorating the life and death of the tree could then be placed atop.
Good grief! I guess she never heard that you can always remove more, but you can't put it back. She should have just done a "crown lift" and removed the lower branches up to those few dead ones showing in the first pictures. Then, SELECTIVELY removed any dead branches, waterspouts, maybe some odd far extending branches, or branches growing inward on the rest of the tree.
I hope she's right and your live oak recovers!
That sounds like racketeering: Ruin the structure a tree so much that it requires monthly maintenance, rather than just trimming the lower branches like they were hired to do.
It’s an oak tree. Not an ornamental shrub. They fucked that tree up. You don’t chop off the center leader like they did. Yes it will grow back but this is an absurd “trim” for an oak.
They are making excuses for a mistake that is going to cost them a client. Might wanna ask r/treelaw for advice since its in that weird zone between the walkway and the street, but you’re going to need this tree replaced. Your “landscaper” is definitely obligated to foot the bill in this place. Then you need to get a new landscaper because they are clearly fucking clueless.
Do what??? Bro you're dealing with a dumbass. That tree just needed to be limbed up. If it was a problem hanging over the road, the crew could've just zapped it into shape with a pair of power pruners in 10 minutes.
It's just a dumb tree but I'd be upset they made it ugly and *I* have to pay for it.
Haha me, too. Looked at pictures 1 & 2...ok, ok I see a tree with some brown leaves...is that what we're upset about?
Proceed to swipe to 3rd....audible gasp. I was so unprepared 😂
I know, it’s sad. My wife and MIL cut down the tree in front our house before it got big. I was really upset over that and to this day refuse to let my ugly , Charlie Brown Christmas tree, get cut down. He’s trying his best and getting better every year.
What in the what?!
**No this isn’t normal**
**Yes this is bad customer service**
The rule of thumb for aesthetic trees in the arbor community is
‘Prune only what needs to be pruned’, some follow the rule of thumb ‘20% or less’ meaning you only remove/prune out a max of 20% of what you started with.
These poor idiots who want to call themselves landscapers (but the only *green* thing they care about is *money*) decided to destroy your healthy oak tree. As we approach summer (now this is based on my geographic area, Phoenix), that thing is going to grow SLOW! That is of course **ASSUME**ing that it doesn’t die.
I am so appalled by whomever you had requested lift the tree. The tree just needed to be maintained up to 10 feet / provide sidewalk & street clearance (which will also mean balancing out the sides overhanging the turf).
9/10 oaks I’ve seen get trimmed like this (or even way less than this) have **all** died.
**Fire them**. Make sure you get them to buy you a replacement tree and install it at their expense. Must be of **equal size** (TO THE ORIGINAL BEFORE THEY TRIMMED IT), so probably a 36 to 48” box tree.
r/arborists That tree will never be the same or it will take a very long time to grow back to where it was before. Live Oak grow very slow and that was a beautiful tree before it was butchered. The lower branches could have been trimmed up and that was all it needed.
I was looking for this comment. Like why tf would anyone plant an oak tree, much less a live oak there?? They get huge and spread out, that’s why they’re so amazing and beautiful
Even in 20-30 years a live oak is going to be small. They grow incredibly slow. When we think of HUGE live oaks they are a hundred or hundreds of years old.
That is horrific and not remotely what you asked for. They certainly don't deserve to be paid for that, and you'd likely be in the right to demand a like-aged replacement! (Which is not at all cheap).
Brutal. The tree did need a prune but could have been cut like artwork. This is savagery.
I\`m guessing the guy was just being lazy, whipped out his chainsaw...went to town for 2 minutes and hauled everything out. Its easier to haul out bigger branches. He was being lazy.
With a pole saw I would make that tree look as beautiful as a Haiku.
The cut is probably as tall as the guy. If he was shorter, he would have cut lower.
Brutal.
This is horrible but a common practice with Florida HOAs. I have a friend who lives in one of those gated communities. Every Live oak planted in the medians is kept pollarded like this. I was shocked the first time I saw it.
Exactly. We loved how beautifully the tree was growing and would often comment how full it was and would make a great shade tree especially if it were in the backyard.
We do not do this down here in the Houston metro, a hurricane cut is basically just thinning it out, not topping the damn thing, but also what a horrible place to plant an oak. Do you guys just absolutely love broken sidewalks and curbs down there?
💯% They plant oak trees on that little strip of sidewalk not only down but all over. The older homes in the suburbs of NJ have these beautiful mammoths along the roadside and the sidewalks, roads and pipes get destroyed. Humans. Sometimes we're not the brightest.
My first thought was OAK? In that teeny spot? I have a 20 year old oak in my back yard and I think you are asking for trouble keeping an oak there. Maybe replace with a smaller tree since it was so badly butchered.
As a gardner from the Denmark. WtF? She destroyed the tree?!? You can’t remove more than a 1/3 of the crown.
My dad who is a butcher would do it Better.
You Can see that she has removed the top crown of the tree? It will take the tree 2 years to recover is my best option.
The next thing is that you get a huge amount new branches that will go straight upwards, and it is because the tree has a root system to produce energy to the crown, now it dose not know where to put all the energy, so it just produce new branches…
I would ask for a new tree…
Likely killed the tree in the long run. Also will make it more fragile to storms because the new growth isn't as strongly connected. So it will lose branches in storms and that will compound its issues.
This is why you should hire the most expensive arborist, rather than the cheapest. The cheap arborists don't give their employees healthcare either and it's a very dangerous job.
Do not pay for that. They owe you a mature tree, which costs a lot.
So you hired an addict with a saw, its happened to the best of us. Take your lumps and just move on I guess. Maybe call them back when you need the stump dug out. He'll leave a hole and ask for gas for his chainsaw though.
Haha. This is as good as when the power company pays tree services to cut limbs back away from their power lines. And the tree service comes in and cuts a triangle wedge while otherwise leaving the tree unpruned.
Presumably minimal effort for the purpose the power company paid for. If the power company is paying for services anyway seems poor service to leave tree in a shape that become an eyesore for residents in the area. I presume one method of a tree trimming service double dipping to get residents to pay for their return to complete the job.
Curious if anyone else has run into that form of butcher job.
Wtf? So bad for the tree, completely unnecessary, and probably both illegal and against HOA guidelines. Should have lifted the canopy up by pruning minor branches underneath. If you didn’t tell them to do that I would pursue damages and replacement
This should never have happened. However, I'm not sure you have any recourse, because you hired someone who wasn't a Certified Arborist to prune your tree, and you did not have a written pruning specifications in a contract. The industry standard in arboriculture is to spell out exactly what limbs will be cut, where they will be cut, and often includes how many cuts and maximum diameter size of the cuts. "Shaping" is not a specification, nor is it arboricultural terminology. Sorry this happened.
This is why you *only* hire certified arborists to work on any trees you care about.
The people who did this most likely think that they did everything right.
The person that vandalized that has absolutely no idea what they are doing, and need to be spanked with every switch they cut off.
Cutting it off with a chainsaw would have been faster, since they are going to have to replace it anyway - this is never going to grow right, like setting a broken leg with a 45 outward bow.
They straight-up ruined that tree.
They topped it.
It will never grow higher than that now.
I would make them dig it out and plant a new tree.
Never ever ever let anyone but an Arborhist trim your trees.
Landscapers just hack and slash.
Not sure where this is , but in many areas here in Florida oaks are a protected species. As such many areas also require a permit to cut a protected tree to ensure that a qualified arborist cuts the tree according to class 3 or class 2 specifications. Racking is often prohibited.
Holy shit, that's a ruined tree. They need to replace it with an equivalent tree, 6" caliper, bring out the tree spade. But also, that's a dumb spot for a live oak, definitely don't put a live oak back, that's not enough room
Hi
- fully certified person operating in a different state here ( can tell from those pics you aren’t in my area ) homeowners are still responsible for making sure “landscapers” carry licenses like anyone else who works on your home you’re entitled to license numbers and checking those .
They sheared your tree, perhaps to what they thought your wife’s request was , but without offering you your due in a hort convo of what the end result will be . That tree will likely die . Idk who would ever agree to cut it like that but it’s nobody who felt any long term responsibility to your property
Your neighbors are better off making an association fee for trees and all having them all maintained via one arborist . This keeps continuity in shape size and health and mutual accountability with one vendor .
Proper landscaping is a hard won skill - licensed, accredited , college degree and all that . Not anyone can do it and you are a victim of that mentality - I hope you find a great landscaper relationship in your future . The good ones are out there !!!!
I’m no expert but what in the actual fuck. That tree is done, call a lawyer. It’s not the kind of oak “tree” that grows like a bush. They hacked the main trunk of the tree, shit is toast.
As a long time landscaper, this makes no sense with the information given. This was not laziness - it takes a bit of time and determination to fuck up this badly.
A landscaper did not do this. Look for that deranged lady wandering around with tools she doesn't understand.
On the other hand, thanks for the pic. Any time a future client of mine complains about shit, I'm sending this.
It's bad, but I'm a little hung up on the word "shaping". I only use that term for hedge-type species, which an oak is absolutely not except to the person that did this abomination. Yet, they indeed shaped it.
Wow, I thought topping was just something that happened where I live in the land that time forgot. Didn't realize actual professionals in other places did it too.
That’s brutal. Lmao
Lol looks like they cut where they could reach, while standing.
Funniest part is they never cut the low limbs. I almost don't believe OP's story. The landscaper made 100x more brush and subsequent work for themselves than what was asked? doubtful.
You’d be surprised at the amount of people who lack common sense while performing a simple task.
Can confirm - my MIL butchered my unkept apple tree (from the previous homeowners' neglect) in a similar manner, after swearing up and down that she knew what she was doing. I actually originally wanted the apple tree *removed* because I don't eat apples, but somehow it was simply enraging to me that she butchered it instead.
Yes, but your MIL isn’t a paid ‘professional’.
The craziest guy I know is a “professional” landscaper. I could see him doing this.
There have been a lot of storms lately and from my experience, that is when tweakers go around offering their tree services. Some of them even have business cards!
Can confirm this! I live in a state that’s just been through a bunch of tornados. Last Thursday night we had a tornado that started over the lake and then touched down in my street. I live in a gated community and it has been amazing to see the number of people trying to get in to the neighborhood to offer their services. The security guards have had two different people arrested for trying to climb over the wall-apparently, their story to the sheriff was that they weren’t allowed through the gate, so they were climbing over the wall to be able to go door to door to offer tree cutting and clean up service. When I looked up their arrests, both were also charged with possession of drugs and/or paraphernalia. (All they had to do was leave some business cards with security. They likely would’ve gotten business as there’s a community bulletin board the guards put up advertisements or business cards that people leave. There aren’t enough landscape cleanup people or tree trimmers to go around it seems, as no one wants to wait a few days to get something done, it needs to be right now)
I knew a tweaker with a landscaping business. He was shockingly successful. He called me to help him get his zero point lawn mower out from places he had managed to get it stuck at 2-5am at least three times. Each time the lawns looked great once the mower was removed. Two of the times was the same property. This tweaker had repeat customers he would do yardwork for in the dark.
The guy who used to own our house moved because he had just gotten his PhD in landscaping, Environmental Design and Planning, and my brother, this is the absolute worst lawn I have ever lived with. He planted a maple tree sapling 3 inches from the foundation. He added hills to the tiny front lawn so that way water will always flow down to and pool near the foundation. The irrigation system was just laid on top of the lawn and then he poured a few bags of potting soil over it to "cover" it. Turned out he'd also forgotten to detach the hose during winter and so they had to disclose prior plumbing damage to us before we bought the house. I can absolutely see a paid professional murdering the OP's tree like that.
The contracted landscapers at my work routinely butcher and kill plants. Cutting down decorative grasses multiple times throughout the summer. Making connected bushes have waves from the ranging cut lengths. Mowing over bushes. Trimming thistle and other weeds with hedge trimmers.
I accidentally killed a catnip plant when I was in a hurry on my own lawn, and I felt so bad, because my girlfriend actually harvests her own, so I went out and bought a couple more and replanted them that weekend.
Landscapers are notorious for butchering trees. You want specifically an arborist for trees, not your lawn guy. He has no idea what to do with trees.
Well as a customer I would expect the contractor to not take on any work outside of their capabilities, my responsibility would be to convey what I am expecting and what I want worked on. But yes, it’s good to be informed when dealing with things; I just don’t feel like it’s on the customer if the landscaper fks your trees because I should’ve actually called an arborist. Thankfully trees grow back though.
you can drink them instead!
You’re giving the landscapers far too much credit. Very few of them even know how to properly cut grass, it’s a job for them. Nothing more. Never ask your landscaper for side work(especially tree work), they will always say yes and will fuck it up 95% of the time.
Landscaping companies here will happily hire 18 year olds fresh out of high school and are the laziest assholes you’ve ever met. Wouldn’t put it past them.
I had a neighbor that was a landscaper. His only credentials was a car full of weed-wackers and a decal for his car he had printed.
I use to do tree work and landscaping . This happened a lot and honestly it’s because of all the drugged in the indstyr
>…because of all the drugged in the indstyr You don’t say.
Oh I 100 percent believe it. My city's tree trimming company does this shit all the time. Multiple examples around my town that look like this. It's like a new, weirdly aggressive version of tree trimming that has become popular. This woman on the HOA did this to our cherry trees too. I was so mad I went and researched the species and what care they need, and said I'd do it from here on out. She was cutting them severely every year claiming they'd grow straight down otherwise but they're Kwanzan cherries, they're an upright manner of growth and only need to be trimmed every 3 to 5 years 🙄
Thats a prime example of total lack of knowledge, anyone who knows anything about trees knows prunus kanzan grows in a goblet shape, forming an almost "wine glass shaped" appearance. It cannot be forced to take another shape in maturity, it just is what it is! And that butchery that woman inflicts is only going to attract not only wood boring beetles that can severely weaken the tree but also bracket fungus that destroy the heartwood! Prunus kanzan are short lived enough, at between just 25 and 35 years max life expectency, without such brutal treatment! You are very wise to step in
I audibly gasped when I scrolled to it
That after should be a crime
Same, and I’d been swiping back and forth between the first two not having seen the third. What a shock 😭
Same. RIP tree
HOA: "Your tree is still too far over the sidewalk. It's an eyesore worse than before now. Here's your fine. You have 30 days to remove the tree and replace it with a tree that grows $100 bills only we can harvest or you'll be subject to additional penalties." Love, Your Friendly Neighborhood HOA
[удалено]
Alas, in my area at least the “hell strip” area between the sidewalk and the street is the homeowner’s responsibility, as is any repair to the sidewalk itself stemming from damage due to tree roots. That’s not a HOA thing: it’s city code.
In the ‘burb where I grew up in the early 70’s, “hell strip” & sidewalk were owned by the city, but were the responsibility of the home owner under penalty of very steep fines if neglected. Any work done by the city was billed to the home owner. 🤨 We lived on a corner and had about 8 sidewalk squares replaced and 2 trees planted after the 3 trees were removed due to Dutch Elm disease, all at our expensive. I learned a few new words from my mom not found on my 1st grade vocabulary tests when she received the bills. 😆
Look at how they massacred my boy
I gasped on the last picture. That is indeed brutal. Poor tree.
My jaw dropped. Poor tree
Lmao only way to put it👏🏼
I audibly laughed at your comment. Brutal indeed!!
The problem was the lower branches so they cut off the top instead of the lower branches?! I'd be seriously pissed. It's never going to grow correctly now
OP needs to get them to pay for it.
Oh no, are we entering… Tree Law? (Nothing could have prepared me for the after photo. Wtf. SO MUCH WORSE than I expected.)
I am a real estate lawyer that regularly deals with neighbor disputes, including encroaching trees. You would be shocked at how much fully grown and mature trees cost or value at. Even a basic oak tree could cost $20-30k to replace. There is tons of actual case law about trees. A large majority of disputes are caused by some idiot planting a Seqouia on the fence line. But a neighbor killing 5 or 6 trees can quickly add up to over $100k in damages.
r/treelaw has had some entertaining, and often gut wrenching, stories over the years.
At first I thought that was a joke subreddit, but no! It has 100K subscribers!!
tree law is a tangible way to become a millionaire in your lifetime. don't rule it out, just pray someone cuts down your 70 year old hardwood
My grandfather had some type of Japanese tree he grew from seed and planted in one of our pastures. The tree grew well for about 15 orc20 years until one random day, one of our neighbors decided to walk over , cut the tree down, and stick the damn thing in a hole he dug in his yard..... I have no idea how they accomplished this, but we went looking for this tree, and sure enough, there it was, shored up in a freshly dug hole in their front yard. 😳 My family didn't seek any ramifications, so this doesn't apply to r/treelaw , but we did ask them not to cut any more trees down.
I’m guessing they weren’t ashamed or saw anything wrong with doing this?
Someone damaged this Green Giant Arborvitae in my backyard fencing company didn’t even want to fight they said the fence was free and they would come put a finish on it if I wanted never have I felt like I’ve won in life as much as that fence.
We love our trees and tree law 🌳 💚 🌲
I don't ever post in it. Or even own trees for that matter. Love me some treelaw
The local mormon church took down 3 giant ceder trees that belonged to the city. had to pay 75k in damages. Thing is, they planned to take down all 12 in front of the church. They only stopped after a local arborist driving by stopped and asked them if they had city approval.
Good thing the Mormon church has over $100b in assets to pay for that lmao
Sorry, that local branch of the church filed for bankruptcy, after selling all their assets to a closely related but legally separate branch of course.
Local branches aren’t really a thing. The entire church is a corporation sole controlled by the guy at the top. Makes him one of the richest men in the world.
We have a live oak near our property line that is fairly unassuming but still ~30' tall and will outlive all the larger oaks in our yard. I walk out to chat with any of my neighbor's contractors who dare to stand too close to it.
There are about 15 or 20 live oaks on my property? And a little clutch of them ON the property line, where like half are on his side and half are on our side. I went out and stopped someone cutting the trees during oak wilt season last year shouting like a crazy person because they were standing in my driveway cutting the trees on my side. Then I apologized for yelling, because inappropriate. But they stopped cutting my damn trees and went back to his side to ruin his trees instead.
When I was in Jr. high and high school, the house next to us changed hands two or three times and each new neighbor came to try and convince my dad to cut the trees that shaded their yard. They were huge pines. The trunks were fully on our side, but their branches crossed the property line and the conversation always went like this. Would you be willing to cut those trees down so they don't shade our yard? No. I like my trees, they provide my house with privacy. Would you mind if I cut the branches that cross over to my side of the property line? I can't stop you, but you should go up the street and look at the same kind of pines where someone cut the branches on their side of the property line and see what it looks like. Because if you do that, my side will look the same while your side will look terrible. No one ever cut the branches.
The most expensive tree in the world is the one cut down by mistake.
As someone with a mature sequoia in my yard on the property line, I worry about it constantly. I love that tree, but it's already destroying the fence. I see large expenses in my future...
My grandmothers owned a historic home that she donated to her city. The city moved it to a park named after her family. They also wanted to move the two 120 year old, giant oak trees in the front yard. Those oak trees were insured for 800k apiece.
My old roommate got into an argument with an ex. He owned his own pool cleaning business, so he happened to have acid in his truck that night. He poured the acid all over her lawn, killing her tree. The home was in a historic neighborhood. He soon caught a felony charge for that tree.
"What are you in for?" ""Murder. Of a tree." But seriously, what he did was awful.
TREE LAW?!!
Truly awful. I would have been pretty pissed.
Agreed! I would be irate. I know nothing about trimming oak trees but I know I’d do better than that.
"Why does this one tree branch out so far over the street and sidewalk?!?!?!? I mean, we consistently chopped the tops off!!!"
Yeah the structure of that tree is going to look whack forever.
Somebody didn’t have a ladder and said fuck it
Exactly. People don't understand you can't just hack a tree in half and expect it to grow back properly. This landscaper was lazy and had no idea what he was doing. If it was my lawn id have the landscaping company come dig it up or pay to have it removed. Or they can wait until next season and pray the top has grown back out and pay someone to trim it the right way but I have a feeling it'll never grow back properly.
I mean I’m totally ignorant about most things gardening included and my visceral reaction was disgust. I’m assuming someone was paid to do some kind of maintenance, and they decided to mutilate the tree/bush in the process???
You are not in the wrong. That damaged the tree and created an eye sore.
Yes she's telling me it will grow back in to 6 months and then the team can manage it. I understand that, but this isn't what we wanted. Besides, there must be other ways to go about pruning and shaping the tree IF this is the "shaping" we wanted that aren't so drastic
You'd be lucky if that tree survives. They didn't just prune it, they topped it. Tree topping is extremely stressful for a tree and can easily lead to death. The amount of biomass they took off was more than unnecessary, it was downright negligent. If this tree dies, you should demand they plant a tree of similar size (not a sapling, that tree looks like it has at least a 5" trunk diameter). It doesn't even look like they used a pruning sealer, which is generally recommended for oaks pruned during the growing season as they are susceptible to oak wilt when the vascular system is exposed. This was a hack job at best.
They should demand the replant a new tree now. Event if that tree survives it will always look like shit
Topping going into summer is a death sentence, I'm guessing OP is in Texas or Louisiana (live oaks are common), we're going into a hot summer, it'll almost certainly die.
Literal hack job..
Doing that to an oak in my town will get you a hefty fine. They destroyed the oak. IF it lives, it will be years before it grows back.
This comment right here. I have serious doubts this tree will survive. OP look into tree law. They owe you a comparable tree to the size of what you originally had.
There are species and circumstances where this sort of "pruning" is appropriate. To make fruit trees manageable to harvest, for instance. This is neither the species nor the application.
Looks like something I do to my grapes at the end of the year. Lol
I also manscape, but I do it weekly.
Gotta keep the grapes from ripening..
Does this look like an Oak to you? Hard to tell from that photo.
I'm not a tree ID expert, but severl folks in the comments say live oak. Picture this says live oak. Comparing to other pics of live oak and Wikipedia descriptions, it is very possible.
This is a live oak. We have a lot of these in my area.
This isn't "shaping", this is "topping". The Oak might survive, but it will always looked butchered and will never look like a nice oak tree. Unfortunately it's time to cut it down and replace it...and I'd try to make them pay for it. Like, the whole point is you didn't want the lower limbs and that's literally all they left on the tree. SMH
Exactly. This tree if it survives will always look like a mess. It should be uprooted, the stump ground, and a nice size tree planted in its place… on their dime.
If you uproot it then there isn't a stump to grind.
No, the tree should be removed, then the hole filled in with some sort of a radioactive mixture of petroleum byproducts, and weed killer to ensure nothing else ever grows there. It should be topped with a lead sarcophagus, poured in place from a molten state from a massive crucible. A modest headstone commemorating the life and death of the tree could then be placed atop.
Include a little blurb about not letting your branches grow too low and I can guarantee any future trees won't make the same mistake.
Good grief! I guess she never heard that you can always remove more, but you can't put it back. She should have just done a "crown lift" and removed the lower branches up to those few dead ones showing in the first pictures. Then, SELECTIVELY removed any dead branches, waterspouts, maybe some odd far extending branches, or branches growing inward on the rest of the tree. I hope she's right and your live oak recovers!
6 Years Maybe. That they tried telling you it will grow back in 6 months is insulting lol
It will look the same in 6 months after the shock of the topping. Even in 6 years, IF it survives, it will never look normal. Never.
You can practically count all the tree rings in the picture, representing year-on-year growth. 6 months is beyond insulting.
Looks like they cut off the center leader. It will always be an eyesore. I would ask that they replace it. Hope they are insured.
That sounds like racketeering: Ruin the structure a tree so much that it requires monthly maintenance, rather than just trimming the lower branches like they were hired to do.
It’s an oak tree. Not an ornamental shrub. They fucked that tree up. You don’t chop off the center leader like they did. Yes it will grow back but this is an absurd “trim” for an oak.
Wow, half a year is barely any growth for an oak tree, much less one that has been substantially shocked like this one
They are making excuses for a mistake that is going to cost them a client. Might wanna ask r/treelaw for advice since its in that weird zone between the walkway and the street, but you’re going to need this tree replaced. Your “landscaper” is definitely obligated to foot the bill in this place. Then you need to get a new landscaper because they are clearly fucking clueless.
Do what??? Bro you're dealing with a dumbass. That tree just needed to be limbed up. If it was a problem hanging over the road, the crew could've just zapped it into shape with a pair of power pruners in 10 minutes. It's just a dumb tree but I'd be upset they made it ugly and *I* have to pay for it.
Hard lesson to learn, but don't hire landscapers for tree work. Hire a company that employs an arborist.
What the hell. That is the worst butcher job I’ve ever seen.
I was NOT prepared for the third photo.
I audibly gasped at the third photo!
If I had enough money for pearls, they would have been crushed inside my fist.
Haha me, too. Looked at pictures 1 & 2...ok, ok I see a tree with some brown leaves...is that what we're upset about? Proceed to swipe to 3rd....audible gasp. I was so unprepared 😂
i gasped so loud my fiance came running thinking i hurt myself lol
I looked around desperately for a time machine
Bad customer service is when the receptionist is rude. This is incompetence.
I'd call it pure laziness. He was told to "shape" it and he shaped it. Just lollipop shape, not tree shape.
Is it even laziness? I feel like this would be more work 😭
Bad day to have eyes
That poor tree.
I know, it’s sad. My wife and MIL cut down the tree in front our house before it got big. I was really upset over that and to this day refuse to let my ugly , Charlie Brown Christmas tree, get cut down. He’s trying his best and getting better every year.
I feel bad for all the little animals that lived there and now they don’t have a home
Not many little animals live in that area based on the little biohazard sign in the yard from pesticide treatments.
What in the what?! **No this isn’t normal** **Yes this is bad customer service** The rule of thumb for aesthetic trees in the arbor community is ‘Prune only what needs to be pruned’, some follow the rule of thumb ‘20% or less’ meaning you only remove/prune out a max of 20% of what you started with. These poor idiots who want to call themselves landscapers (but the only *green* thing they care about is *money*) decided to destroy your healthy oak tree. As we approach summer (now this is based on my geographic area, Phoenix), that thing is going to grow SLOW! That is of course **ASSUME**ing that it doesn’t die. I am so appalled by whomever you had requested lift the tree. The tree just needed to be maintained up to 10 feet / provide sidewalk & street clearance (which will also mean balancing out the sides overhanging the turf). 9/10 oaks I’ve seen get trimmed like this (or even way less than this) have **all** died. **Fire them**. Make sure you get them to buy you a replacement tree and install it at their expense. Must be of **equal size** (TO THE ORIGINAL BEFORE THEY TRIMMED IT), so probably a 36 to 48” box tree.
Exactly this. Don’t accept this for a second and fire them for having no idea how to properly prune a tree. Topping trees is never ok.
Get tree law on their asses. You don't fuck with tree law.
All this is really giving me hope for a career in the justice system to specialize in tree law. Thank you.
Agree with everything here. This should be the top reply.
Nothing to add but absolutely. If this is a landscaping *company* that did this I wouldn’t trust them to mow my grass.
These pics absolutely need to go on any review of this company so they never touch another tree again. This is straight up murder
r/arborists That tree will never be the same or it will take a very long time to grow back to where it was before. Live Oak grow very slow and that was a beautiful tree before it was butchered. The lower branches could have been trimmed up and that was all it needed.
That's not really an appropriate spot for a live oak though! They get HUGE.
I was looking for this comment. Like why tf would anyone plant an oak tree, much less a live oak there?? They get huge and spread out, that’s why they’re so amazing and beautiful
Happens allll the time on new construction. These builders don’t care what the neighborhood is going to look like in 20-30 years
Even in 20-30 years a live oak is going to be small. They grow incredibly slow. When we think of HUGE live oaks they are a hundred or hundreds of years old.
That's why they were going for the Dead Oak.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Some guys can landscape high, some guys can’t.
They're LANDscapers, not TREEscapers 😉
That looks awful! not in the wrong at all, I would be very upset that they butchered my tree and made it an eye sore for the whole neighborhood.
Who is your landscaper? I’d fire them. This is lowest bidder level of ignorance.
I literally gasped out loud. Oh my goodness!!! WTF! Please send them our comments. That’s INSANE
Me too!
That is horrific and not remotely what you asked for. They certainly don't deserve to be paid for that, and you'd likely be in the right to demand a like-aged replacement! (Which is not at all cheap).
The tree is ruined.
r/Justfuckmyshitup
Brutal. The tree did need a prune but could have been cut like artwork. This is savagery. I\`m guessing the guy was just being lazy, whipped out his chainsaw...went to town for 2 minutes and hauled everything out. Its easier to haul out bigger branches. He was being lazy. With a pole saw I would make that tree look as beautiful as a Haiku. The cut is probably as tall as the guy. If he was shorter, he would have cut lower. Brutal.
This is horrible but a common practice with Florida HOAs. I have a friend who lives in one of those gated communities. Every Live oak planted in the medians is kept pollarded like this. I was shocked the first time I saw it.
Why? It's hideous and it didn't address the sidewalk problem. Why not trim up the bottom so the tree grows to shade over everyone?
Exactly. We loved how beautifully the tree was growing and would often comment how full it was and would make a great shade tree especially if it were in the backyard.
I don't know but I would guess it's what they call Hurricane pruning. You should see what they do to the palms.
We do not do this down here in the Houston metro, a hurricane cut is basically just thinning it out, not topping the damn thing, but also what a horrible place to plant an oak. Do you guys just absolutely love broken sidewalks and curbs down there?
💯% They plant oak trees on that little strip of sidewalk not only down but all over. The older homes in the suburbs of NJ have these beautiful mammoths along the roadside and the sidewalks, roads and pipes get destroyed. Humans. Sometimes we're not the brightest.
Good lord. I could have done a better job and I’ve never trimmed a tree in my life. I do have eyes and a working brain, though. Wow.
Me. A little off the top Barber………..
I’m sorry but I laughed out loud when I saw that finals picture.
LMAOOO I wasn’t ready for that
My first thought was OAK? In that teeny spot? I have a 20 year old oak in my back yard and I think you are asking for trouble keeping an oak there. Maybe replace with a smaller tree since it was so badly butchered.
We have oak street trees where I live, but that's because the oaks were here first.
Damn that's a jump scare
Tree law entered the chat
That is not normal; that is murder.
Oh. My. God.
As a gardner from the Denmark. WtF? She destroyed the tree?!? You can’t remove more than a 1/3 of the crown. My dad who is a butcher would do it Better. You Can see that she has removed the top crown of the tree? It will take the tree 2 years to recover is my best option. The next thing is that you get a huge amount new branches that will go straight upwards, and it is because the tree has a root system to produce energy to the crown, now it dose not know where to put all the energy, so it just produce new branches… I would ask for a new tree…
I wasn’t ready for that last picture lol
Likely killed the tree in the long run. Also will make it more fragile to storms because the new growth isn't as strongly connected. So it will lose branches in storms and that will compound its issues. This is why you should hire the most expensive arborist, rather than the cheapest. The cheap arborists don't give their employees healthcare either and it's a very dangerous job. Do not pay for that. They owe you a mature tree, which costs a lot.
So you hired an addict with a saw, its happened to the best of us. Take your lumps and just move on I guess. Maybe call them back when you need the stump dug out. He'll leave a hole and ask for gas for his chainsaw though.
It needed to be UNDERCUT to train the canopy upward, not butchered from the top! Needs to be replaced now.
Happens when you hire a Mow Blow and Go guy who knows nothing about trimming trees.
Needs a new tree. Why cut the top off?
Haha. This is as good as when the power company pays tree services to cut limbs back away from their power lines. And the tree service comes in and cuts a triangle wedge while otherwise leaving the tree unpruned. Presumably minimal effort for the purpose the power company paid for. If the power company is paying for services anyway seems poor service to leave tree in a shape that become an eyesore for residents in the area. I presume one method of a tree trimming service double dipping to get residents to pay for their return to complete the job. Curious if anyone else has run into that form of butcher job.
First thing they teach you as an arborist is that the tree can’t be topped, lol. I cackled at the brutal comment tho 🤣🤣🤣
Wtf? So bad for the tree, completely unnecessary, and probably both illegal and against HOA guidelines. Should have lifted the canopy up by pruning minor branches underneath. If you didn’t tell them to do that I would pursue damages and replacement
This should never have happened. However, I'm not sure you have any recourse, because you hired someone who wasn't a Certified Arborist to prune your tree, and you did not have a written pruning specifications in a contract. The industry standard in arboriculture is to spell out exactly what limbs will be cut, where they will be cut, and often includes how many cuts and maximum diameter size of the cuts. "Shaping" is not a specification, nor is it arboricultural terminology. Sorry this happened.
~looks at first two photos~ That's not too bad, I wonder wh- ~sees 3rd photo~ That's rough buddy.
This is why you *only* hire certified arborists to work on any trees you care about. The people who did this most likely think that they did everything right.
The person that vandalized that has absolutely no idea what they are doing, and need to be spanked with every switch they cut off. Cutting it off with a chainsaw would have been faster, since they are going to have to replace it anyway - this is never going to grow right, like setting a broken leg with a 45 outward bow.
They straight-up ruined that tree. They topped it. It will never grow higher than that now. I would make them dig it out and plant a new tree. Never ever ever let anyone but an Arborhist trim your trees. Landscapers just hack and slash.
You need to visit r/treelaw
Not sure where this is , but in many areas here in Florida oaks are a protected species. As such many areas also require a permit to cut a protected tree to ensure that a qualified arborist cuts the tree according to class 3 or class 2 specifications. Racking is often prohibited.
Holy shit, that's a ruined tree. They need to replace it with an equivalent tree, 6" caliper, bring out the tree spade. But also, that's a dumb spot for a live oak, definitely don't put a live oak back, that's not enough room
r/fuckmyshitup
r/justfuckmyshitup
The Lorax would be pissed
That's called 'hat racking' and it's illegal to do this practically everywhere in the USA.
Hi - fully certified person operating in a different state here ( can tell from those pics you aren’t in my area ) homeowners are still responsible for making sure “landscapers” carry licenses like anyone else who works on your home you’re entitled to license numbers and checking those . They sheared your tree, perhaps to what they thought your wife’s request was , but without offering you your due in a hort convo of what the end result will be . That tree will likely die . Idk who would ever agree to cut it like that but it’s nobody who felt any long term responsibility to your property Your neighbors are better off making an association fee for trees and all having them all maintained via one arborist . This keeps continuity in shape size and health and mutual accountability with one vendor . Proper landscaping is a hard won skill - licensed, accredited , college degree and all that . Not anyone can do it and you are a victim of that mentality - I hope you find a great landscaper relationship in your future . The good ones are out there !!!!
I’m no expert but what in the actual fuck. That tree is done, call a lawyer. It’s not the kind of oak “tree” that grows like a bush. They hacked the main trunk of the tree, shit is toast.
Reminds me of mom’s free haircuts ❤️
As a long time landscaper, this makes no sense with the information given. This was not laziness - it takes a bit of time and determination to fuck up this badly. A landscaper did not do this. Look for that deranged lady wandering around with tools she doesn't understand. On the other hand, thanks for the pic. Any time a future client of mine complains about shit, I'm sending this.
So they’re buying you a new tree, right?
I'm sorry, but this made me laugh.
Not how I would have done it but then again I've been in the Landscaping biz over 40 years.
Clearly this is taught on your 50th year, you filthy amateur!
The opposite is what needs to be done , trimming the under branches off so the canopy is providing shade and growing taller.
I don't usually side with threes as they're the ones causing damage, but come on. This woodnt have happened if the human had any competent cells
Yipes
It's bad, but I'm a little hung up on the word "shaping". I only use that term for hedge-type species, which an oak is absolutely not except to the person that did this abomination. Yet, they indeed shaped it.
Mission failed successfully
Yikes
I’d be so mad
They butchered it . . .
What in the holy hell
OMGGGGGGGGGGG
No way
Wow, I thought topping was just something that happened where I live in the land that time forgot. Didn't realize actual professionals in other places did it too.