After two harsh icy winters in Oklahoma, the state's power company in conjunction with the city, hired statewide crews to go through and cut away whatever the tree company thought was 8 year's growth from the lines. How they came up with 8 years I do not know.

Anyway you go down almost every street now and every tree looks just like your example...or worse. And like you said, the next big storm and all those exterior exposed, loppsided branches will all be overweight and break off. But the utility couldn't afford to cut and grind the stumps, so this butchery is their lawfully entitled answer.

It's horrible, and looks even worse. Arborists should unite and do some kind of petition for the utilities to come back through a properly trim the trees, or cut and grind them so they an be replaced by something more fitting the location.

My two cents.

mark

My opinion, and I always have one :)

Power companies do it that way because they're not thrilled to be out there spending their money pruning trees which shouldn't have been planted.

In St. Louis we have a huge number of "U" shaped sycamores. You'd think it was a new cultivar folks planted.

A large number of homeowners are outsmarted by their trees that grow into decks, fences, trees and power lines.

If the power company did any trimming on my property I'm happy if they didn't charge me personally for my tree planting mistake (or that of the previous owners).

Planting a burr oak within mature spread range of overhead lines is as ridiculous as parking your car on the railroad tracks while going to a football game. If the car is moved for free by anything less than a 60mph train consider yourself lucky.

Politically I'm pretty far left of Obama but don't buy a property you can't maintain.

The power companies subcontract tree companies and tree companies higher people off the street. I don't think the power companies put any thought into how they are trimmed, as long as they don't have to fix a downed wire from storm damage for at least 4 years. I do believe that people should have access to affordable healthcare.

Maybe a case where topping might have been better? These would surely snap under the ice load we saw last winter, even more so after the remaining side grows out more.

Trees aside, who was driving while you were snapping the pics at 50mph?!

Such an eyesore. Doesn't this type of decision making just confirm that people in general are really funny. The power lines, must have been there before someone planted a tree, so why did they plant it just about under them? The only explanation I can come up with is that I am always planting shrubs too close together. I just don't seem to have the visual ability to gauge distances very well. Especially since I purchase small sizes of shrubs that will eventually be a lot bigger. So why don't I get the measuring tape out? I don't know the answer to that question. lol I did use the measuring tape just the other day, when I was planting a new shrub. But in my own defense, sometimes the information on eventual width is absent or incorrect.

I do hate the way the power company cut the tree. But what would have been a better decision? Remove the tree? Cut the tree off below the wires, which could I assume would grow back up into them? We don't have telephone wires on our side of the street, thankfully. Our neighbor across the street, had them come by and trim his tree twice already. He doesn't pay much attention to things like that, per se. He left a weed sapling grow in the front and it eventually became a 25ft Maple that was too close to the wires. He has been home when they have trimmed it and was able to at least give input as they were doing it. It doesn't look that bad. The one above is horrible.

Move to Britain, it doesn't happen here ;-)

Resin

Ya know, I could write a book on this subject, but I'm in a merciful mood this evening, so I won't.

It is possible that now that the tree is taller than the highest set of lines, growth will occur on that side to help with weight/balance issues. But otherwise, as already mentioned, the alternatives would be topping or complete removal. I've seen much worse, and I should at least add, that if your community has a tree ordinance in place, it is typical that companies who contract for the power co. will do better work.

Again...don't want to take this too far, but I'm less than enchanted by the newer tendency of planting short-growing species under lines. It does achieve, to varying extent, the goal of keeping the trees' crown out of conflict with wires. But the end result, from a design standpoint, is a series of widely spaced lollipops along the streets, not the tall green canopy effect. In some cases, I'd rather see tall-growing trees valleyed out, with correct pruning cuts, all through the trees' life, than these short gumballs. I know, looks weird in winter, but in the summer, such U'd out trees are actually quite functional.

I better quit........+oM

Leaving the tree there instead of cutting it down means they have to return every year or so to trim it back. Keeps them in business. So there's little motivation on the part of the tree company to cut the whole thing down.

ricon, while your statement makes sense logically, this view is not one I've witnessed among local line-clearance companies. They have always been only too happy to remove a tree if the tree is within any proximity of service lines or main lines. Truth is, there is always enough work for these folks to do.

No big deal, but I really don't believe that was a part of this particular pruning decision.

+oM

There was a guy here who had his ponderosa pines trimmed like this for years.

Then a year or two back, he came back from vacation to find that decided it was cheaper (in the long run) to cut down all his trees ... and his trees were gone.

Luckily, his neighbor filed a court order real quick and stopped them from continuing the cut down trees in the easement ... after a short legal battle.

but it isnt an EASEMENT.. if the property owner has rights to impede the alleged easement ...

i hope they sue the judge for payment of line replacement ... then they wouldnt make such idiot decisions ...

ken