Whether you want to cut off the tip, also known as the leader, of.

Oct 29, Cutting the top off a pine tree (Pinus spp.) won't immediately kill the tree, but a large pruning wound could leave the tree open to potentially deadly infections. Canopies of pine trees and many other evergreens grow outward from the needle-bearing tips of branches.

Cutting back a branch to the bare wood inside the green canopy kills the branch, and cutting out a pine's top stops vertical Estimated Reading Time: 4 mins. Jul 21, Whether you want to cut off the tip, also known as the leader, of your pine tree depends on the effect you hope to achieve. It also depends on whether the tree in question is actually a pine, give that people often say “pine” to describe all types of evergreen conifers.

Feb 02, Many people here will consider them disfigured the moment they are topped, although I think a topped pine doesn't look nearly as ridiculous as a topped broadleaf tree, like a maple or oak. They will not die from such a cut, at least not for a long time.

United States.

The cut will. You could possibly trim them, (i.e. selectively cut some side branches), but topping them is a no no. They will have big problems, possibly leading to death, and will grow deformed on the top and look really ugly. I suggest either taking some out entirely, or thinning, depending on how they are situated. It’s when you cut the top of a tree off, which reduces the tree’s remaining top branches to stumps. As a result, your tree is left with weak, unstable limbs and a bare, unnatural appearance.

Also, your tree is much more prone to breaking and may be a risk hazard.

As Ken said, cutting the lower branches does not somehow increase the wind resistance of the upper branches. It marginally decreases the overall moment of force caused by wind on the tree. The trees did not topple because they were limbed up, they toppled due to extraordinarily high winds they would have toppled regardless.