Rough idea?

Hi newtoitall,

That's a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" type question. Can you post a photo of it and give an idea how much you think should come off.

 

I agree with Scrungee but it depends on whether it's giving too much shade to the rest of the garden - and you need to be aware of the danger the roots can pose to buildings.

I'd be inclined to make the tree narrower. I can't see the main branches but if they are spreading horizontally too much they can be taking too much load when they are in leaf. This will also depend on how old the tree is. Willow is quite a brittle wood and as it gets old it becomes more brittle. As we seem to be getting stronger winds nowadays it is something that you need to be aware of.

If, in the future, you decide to take a chainsaw to some of the bigger branches then you do need to take the brittleness into account and cut it in smaller sections.

There are different schools of thought about trimming the low branches. Some people just take a hedgecutter and run it round the dangling leafy branches at about the 5' level. That is definitely the quickest way but I prefer to cut each individual branch to let it look more natural. I grab each branch in one hand and pull it down and then use secateurs to cut it where I want to.

 

Your right , although the photo was taken before the leaves had grown properly. I deliberately keep the canopy thinned out and reduce the crown by 15ft every five years. I find that this allows full shade underneath (as the GC members that came to our garden found out ) whilst still allowing light to seep through to let plants grow.

It just depends on what you want to end up with. My tree is too tall for me to do it all myself but I only get them in every five years and do the rest myself. When the tree surgeons come in they do a number of other jobs around the garden which doesn't cost any extra (as they charge me for half a day).

Bah!! I've been trying to upload a picture and it doesn't appear. I'll try later

Done it.