NES tree pruning policy—My goodness . . what a stir up that group of people are in! We have lopsided, off balance, center sections and corners cut out of trees all over town and how unsightly they can look. I am writing this article in efforts to help with the understanding of how a tree operates.

First of all, understand that a tree is like a big corporation or company. The main stem of the tree is the core of the company and there are mass branches of employees under and above ground. The upper employees (leaves) support the underground force (roots) with starches and sugars. The roots give the leaves water and nutrients and the overspill of this symbiotic relationship is what the tree uses for cell division/growth and storage for hard times. Understanding that a great loss of employees from either side of this company will result in death of employees on the other end. This is why we see tops of trees decline after major root loss. We are unable to see the loss of workforce underground.

Hold that thought! The more leaves a tree loses the more roots underground die from starvation, thus putting stress on the whole company. Now, think back to the practice in which trees were trimmed here in Nashville ever since the first electric wire hit the top of a pole. They’d come in and real nicely round over the whole top of the tree stripping it of virtually every employee it had.

The type of trimming they used to do made trees more dangerous if they survived. That type of trimming practice also starts a whole downward spiral of: decaying wood, root loss, weakly attached limbs and several other situations that come back to haunt the tree and tree owner over time.

Had our trees been pruned under the new policy as they grew up, we would have a completely different view. It was not understood that topping was so wrong. Shaping and balancing to please the eye is the last concern of a tree. The tree is most concerned about how many employees it gets to keep as a result of our wanting lights, hot water, and a TV to watch.  Change is hard for all of us, although I’m sure glad our medical doctors have adapted to new methods over the last 50 years. It would scare me to death if my doctor didn’t change practice according to new technology and education in the field of medicine.■

Ruel Jones