LETTERS: TURNING TREES TO GROTESQUE HAT RACKS

To the editor:

I had never seen a dehorned tree prior to moving to Southeast Missouri over 20 years ago. Dehorning, stubbing off or topping trees is a common practice here. It isn't common elsewhere. Dehorning is that method of pruning a large, graceful, naturally shaped tree into what looks like a large, grotesque hat rack. The ugliness of the result should be enough reason not to practice this pruning method. Other reasons exist.

First, dehorning doesn't work. Trying to make a tree stay small when it is genetically programmed to grow large is not possible. Well, "not possible" is the wrong phrase. It is possible. You'll just have to stub it off every two or three years for the rest of its life. Frankly, If you want a small tree, you ought to plant one that doesn't get big.

Second, it's expensive. Not initially, of course. It is a cheap way to prune. It should be. It takes little knowledge, skill, time or thought to cut off almost everything. But within a few years, your tree will grow numerous long, straight, skinny branches called suckers or waterspouts, and you'll have to top it again. And again. And again.

Third, it is dangerous. Suckers are very weakly attached to the tree. As a result, they frequently break on windy days. Not only that, but stubbing off big limbs allows decay, causing fungus to enter and proceed downward, causing hollow limbs and trunks. The tree weakens. If that's not bad enough, all those suckers catch more wind, making the tree more likely to break or topple over. Its lifespan is reduced. A properly pruned tree allows the wind to blow through it, like a sail with holes in it. Dehorning creates hazardous trees, and hazardous trees are liabilities. They have negative value.

Diminished value is the fourth reason. Suppose you had two trees located on a valuable lot in a downtown area -- for example, a pin oak with a diameter of 44 inches and a willow oak with a diameter of 50 inches. Let's suppose that both trees are 50 to 70 years old and show no signs of pests or diseases. They could live many more years. Let's further suppose that you called a bona fide landscape and tree appraiser like me to tell you the value of these two trees prior to dehorning them. The values, all factors considered, work out to $14,008.32 for the pin oak and $18,081.79 for the willow oak.

You, the owner dehorn the trees, Now they are liabilities. Now they have negative value. Now they are worth less than nothing. And they are ugly, short-lived and dangerous. Any you had to pay someone to do it.

I cannot understand why the practice continues. Can anyone explain it to me?

JOE SHERINSKI, Horticulturist

Jackson