Reduce size and weight the right way — never topping.
Creative Tree & Stump LLC is a Brighton, CO-based tree removal company serving 22 communities across Adams, Weld, Jefferson, Boulder, Broomfield, and Denver counties. Shawn Brandau — an ISA Certified Arborist — has reduced and reshaped Front Range trees since 1991, and the company is fully insured for work at height and near structures. Proper reduction is slower, more skilled work than topping, and the difference shows for years afterward in the tree’s health and shape.
The difference comes down to where the cut is made. A reduction cut shortens a branch back to a healthy side branch — the lateral — that is at least about a third the diameter of the limb being removed, so that lateral becomes the new growing tip and the tree keeps a natural shape. Topping, by contrast, cuts branches off mid-limb at an arbitrary point, leaving stubs with no growing tip to take over.
Those stubs cannot seal, so they decay, and the tree responds by throwing up a dense flush of weak, fast-growing watersprouts that are poorly attached and prone to breaking. A topped tree ends up larger, weaker, uglier and more hazardous within a few years — and it needs costly re-pruning forever. We reduce; we never top, and we will explain why if someone asks for topping.
Reduction makes sense when a tree has simply outgrown its space — crowding a roofline, looming over a structure, or grown tall and top-heavy with a weak fork you want to lighten. It is also used to reduce the leverage on a limb with a defect, or to reshape a tree after storm damage. The aim is a modest, even reduction that keeps the tree’s form, not a drastic size change.
There are limits. Not every species reduces well, and a reduction still has to stay within the roughly one-quarter canopy limit. In Arvada and other established neighborhoods, we often reduce large maples and ash that were planted too close to houses decades ago — but if a tree truly cannot be made safe at a reasonable size, we will say so honestly rather than butcher it.
Each reduction cut is made just beyond the lateral branch that will become the new leader, angled to shed water and sized so the remaining branch can support the regrowth. By choosing the right laterals throughout the canopy, we lower the height and reach evenly while preserving the branch collars and the tree’s ability to seal each wound. The result looks like a smaller version of the same tree, not a stubbed-back skeleton.
It is slower, more skilled work than topping, which is exactly why so few cut-rate crews do it properly. We provide crown reduction across all 22 of the communities we serve, with the owner selecting the cuts on every tree.
After reduction we remove all the brush and walk the tree with you, because a good reduction should be hard to spot — the tree just looks smaller and in proportion, not stubbed back. We will also flag any structural concern we noticed while up in the canopy, such as a weak union or early decay, so you can plan ahead. On larger reductions we stage the work across more than one visit so the tree is never over-pruned in a single season.
Shawn Brandau has reduced and reshaped Front Range trees since 1991 — an ISA Certified Arborist choosing every lateral, full insurance on every job, and a firm no to topping.
No — they are opposites. Reduction shortens limbs back to a living lateral that becomes the new tip, keeping the tree healthy and natural. Topping leaves stubs that decay and sprout. We reduce properly and never top, and we are glad to show you the difference on your own tree during the estimate.
Generally no more than about a quarter of the live canopy in a season, and often less on a mature tree. Large reductions are staged over more than one visit so the tree is never over-stressed, and some species simply do not reduce well, which we will tell you before starting.
You can ask, but we won’t do it. Topping makes a tree larger, weaker and more hazardous over a few years and costs more in repeated re-pruning. We offer proper reduction instead, which actually solves the size problem.
Often, yes — a careful reduction can pull a canopy back off a roofline while keeping the tree healthy. If the tree is simply too big for the spot, we’ll discuss whether reduction or removal makes more sense long term.
Proper reduction regrows at a normal, healthy rate. Topping is what triggers explosive watersprout regrowth, because the tree is reacting to a severe injury. A correctly reduced tree stays in proportion much longer, so you are not paying to re-cut explosive regrowth every couple of years.
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