Sorry... they will never return.

"Having higher branches thinned so the lower limbs would fill in a bit" is a misnomer. That never works either.

By the way is it the front yard or the back yard you are dealing with? Not tracking well here.

Dave

Time to move.

You could throw some shade tolerant bushes under the pines. Maybe Hostas also.

"Time to move" LOL

Do you have room between the pines and the street to plant something in front of them? Dave is right, they wont grow back, but depending on the tree, the upper branches may sag down in time.

tj

Now all kind of weeds and grass can grow under the trees and he can mow those. Time to use Roundup on the weeds and mulch the area!

Here in Germany you often see Rhododendron ( or Taxus ) under Pines.

I am crushed they mine were trimmed, i just was stunned and appalled and so sad, I know how you feel. It is so hard

Strong bump, lol. Hope the husband got out of the doghouse.

Let him stay in the doghouse another month.

Our townhouse management company (one star rated) let loose a equally stupid landscaping company (4 initials and also 1 star) who promptly butchered everything, plumeria trees, bougainvillea bushes, and yes, pine trees, which are now bare & seeping, from the bottom up to about 18 feet high. With the red dirt and high winds, I worry for their safety, figure they are too top heavy and as for roots? Well our soil often feels like concrete.

Normally best to start a new thread.

As unattractive as they now are, they are not "top heavy" and have no greater chance of falling in high winds as they did prior to the butchering. They also look like Norfolk Island Pine which in every location I've seen them in, are incredibly wind-firm.

This just happened to us. We hired a landscaping company and they without permission cut all the lower branches of our pine tree in the front yard. We lost our privacy screening and sound muffling effect. Totally exposed to the street now. The low branches providing shade and the lush look were one of my favorite features of our front yard. Now all of that is gone! I am especially mad because they did it without our permission. You cannot just cut trees randomly in someone's backyard! So sad to learn that the branches will never regrow.

Red Mittens, your story is unfortunately a common one, :(

Actually, conifers occasionally do grow new lower branches although I have never been sure exactly why. I have a blue spruce and a white fir out by the road on either side of my driveway and I keep the lower branches cut to improve visibility. Every once and a while new tufts of growth will start out.

I guess it all depends on how old your pines are. If they are in the 5 -20 year range, this is possible but if they are really old with very thick bark then there is no hope. :(

Another factor here, I didn't see what kind of pines they are or where you are located. Canary Island pines are really well adapted to putting out new growth. If a Canary pine gets cut down, it can actually resprout from the stump. I have seen this happen. However, most pines cannot do that. Canary Island pines can only thrive in America in Zone 7 or lower. There are oodles of them in California.

Regards,

Fred M. Cain

I have Afghani pines that were butcher in Phoenix Az 25 feet tall with 5 feet cut off the bottom. It gets hot in summer. are they doomed. Cut right to the trunk

Huh? You mean it gets hot in Phoenix in the Summer? Are you sure?

I don't believe Afghan Pine is included in that very select group of pines that have latent buds below the bark to form new branch growth off the trunk.

What is an Afghan pine any way ?

AND YOU ARE THE THIRD PERSON WITH THE SCREEN NAME HU-####

arizona, utah,no. carolina

WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THAT ?

ron

Ron,

Pinus eldarica. Eldarica pine or Afghan pine. Pine tree native to Afghanistan. To be perfectly honest with you, I'd never heard of it before, either and I'm a "cone head".

I guess it's been widely planted in the Phoenix and Tucson areas in recent years.

Regards,

Fred M. Cain

all I know some lumber yard next to me cut my limbs off my White Pine here Missouri only people can do that would be Electric and if tree is in your yard its called Realty Trespass all that said I am worried about my tree and they want a signed statement if they spray pruning sealer they are not liable further from that .They cut several large limbs opened me up to more noise and wind really pissed me off when the contractor claimed he could cut anything above their property line .

Pruning sealer does nothing to protect the tree and can even encourage disease and insect issues. It has been a disproven practice for many years now.

FWIW, most jurisdiction do allow the pruning of tree parts that overhang neighboring properties.....as long as any pruning is done from their side of the property line and what they do does not adversely impact the heath of the tree.

I'm not too sure about your advice on pruning sealer. I have always used it with success. Especially on peach trees which are really vulnerable to fungus penetration in my area.

Leaving the wound open and exposed to fungus invasion seems to make no sense. If standard tree wound seal is not the best product to use is there a better sealer that can be recommended?

You certainly do not need to rely on just my advice........feel free to do your own research! You will find many tree care sites, including the ISA, that recommend against it.

Alex Shigo was the first to to determine that this practice was contraindicated when he published his 13 years of research in the Journal of Arboriculture in 1983. Perhaps understanding why he came to that conclusion - now endorsed by professional arborists around the globe - will help you to see why sealers work contra to what one would expect. Trees have a built in ability to compartmentalize injuries, including pruning wounds, so that they do the sealing and protecting all on their own.

The Myth of Wound Dressings

Thanks so much for the link which led to an interesting report. However, having read through it, I have not changed my mind on the subject. Linda makes some excellent points but I am still gonna stick with wound sealant.

She stated that sealants do “seal in moisture and decay”. Well, yes, they can; that’s why after making a cut the wound has to be sealed immediately before fungus has the chance to invade the tree. As for it eventually cracking, if it’s a large wound, I tend to add a new coat every year at the end of the winter until the wound closes up.

As for the sealant not preventing organisms from invading, well, I’m sorry but I’m just a bit skeptical of that. How are fungus spores supposed to get through that? Unless, the sealant has aged and cracked (see my above comment). In fact, this contradicts her premise that sealants have the potential to seal in decay. Well, if they are that impervious, wouldn’t that work both ways?

As for stopping rot, well, sure, that’s true. Once it’s in there it’s in there. That’s why wounds need to be sealed immediately.

She then questions why anyone would want to put a petroleum-based product on living tissue. Uh, well, I can think of “Vaseline” and antibiotic ointments, probably some part of which both came from petroleum. Not all petroleum based products are necessarily toxic. If I cut my hand, I would not put tree wound sealer on it but neither would I put triple antibiotic ointment on a tree wound!

Then, finally, she contradicts her whole premise by stating that there may be some benefit in treating some species susceptible to certain diseases. Huh?

Certain trees? Well, yes, I would not try and put tree wound sealant on a member of the pine family. For one thing, pines, firs, spruces, larches, etc., ooze pitch and tend to seal their own wounds very quickly.

So, your advice to this guy about sealing his wounds on pine trees is probably good. But on fruit trees or certain hardwood shade trees, yeah, I’m gonna continue to do it.

This is just like so many things in our society today. Scientists tend to have “proof” of certain things while others have “proof” of the exact opposite. Like COVID. There are Israeli scientists telling us they have proof that natural immunity is vastly superior to that of vaccination and others (The CDC) who claim the exact opposite. Who’s right? What are we supposed to believe?

But in this case, nursery men and arborists have been using tree wound sealant for probably over a century and in my mind’s eye it has stood the test of time.

Regards,

Fred M. Cain,

Topeka, IN

I hear pine limbs don't grow back, but then I see this

It's neither a pine nor a limb. So what's your point?

ive sen that on power line clearing on spruce trees ... decades later.. they are barely a few inches big ...

i suppose its one of those things that is possible ... but not probable ... and when it does happen.. not worthwhile ... to wait for ...

this question is most seen in circs like the OP above ... who want the limbs back.. the sight line restored.. etc .... and waiting for this to happen isnt going to achieve much.. in tree time...

thx for the pix... do you have any idea how long ago the branch was cut.. ???

ken

I have seen this on both my blue spruce and on my white fir trees but not on my pines.

However, there are at least two (possibly more) species of pine that can sprout like this. One is the Chihuahua pine and the other is Canary Island pine. Chihuahua pine is rarely planted in home yards or gardens but the Canary Island pine is on occasion. However, the Canary Island pine is not hardy in the north above about USDA Zone 7.

Regards,

Fred M. CaIn

I just had the same exact thing happen to me … the landscaper DESTROYED my beautiful lush white pine … I watched it grow for (18) years … now all the lower branches are gone … it has 6’ of trunk exposed - my privacy is gone …. i dont want bushes underneath … I am devasted this was done !!!!!!!!!! I feel the same pain as the last who wrote this original post. crying !!!

I want my white pine tree back the way he was … he even has a name, ’Brody’ .

I too am devastated as the trimmers went way to high while trimming my pines. I have lost all the privacy I had prior to the trimming. Six pines with exposed trunks going up a good 12 ft. It is going to cost me a fortune to fix the lawn and try to make the area look even half way decent. I am in the process of trying to find a landscaper with a solution to my problem. These guys broke a lot of the lattice that was on top of the fence and I have to have that repaired as well. I have lost sleep and can't get past being angry!