Canopy lifting

Canopy lifting — sometimes called crown lifting — means removing the lowest branches so there is usable clearance beneath the tree. It is the least invasive pruning there is, and often the one that solves the actual problem.

What people usually want it for

• Getting the mower under. Low branches turn mowing into ducking.
• Driveway and footpath clearance. Branches that scrape car roofs or force pedestrians onto the road.
• Light into the house or the garden beds. Lifting the skirt of a tree lets low morning and afternoon sun back in, which is often exactly what a shaded Canberra garden needs.
• Views. A lifted canopy frames a view instead of blocking it.
• Sightlines and security. Being able to see the front door from the street.
• Getting an ambulance or a fire truck in. Worth thinking about on a long or narrow driveway. Emergency vehicles are a good deal taller than your car, and the day you need one is not the day to find out the canopy is too low.
• Bushfire preparation. On rural blocks around Sutton and Wamboin, lifting the canopy removes the ladder fuel that carries a ground fire up into the crown.

How high can you lift?

There is a limit, and it is about proportion. A tree that has had too much of its lower canopy removed ends up looking like a lollipop and, more importantly, loses the leaf area and the taper that keeps the trunk strong. The general guide is to keep the live canopy occupying at least about two-thirds of the tree’s total height.

On a 12 m tree that usually allows a comfortable clearance for vehicles. On a small ornamental it might only mean a metre or so. Ben will tell you honestly what is achievable before you book.

Doing it without damaging the tree

Lower limbs are usually the biggest ones on the tree, which means the cuts are large and the wounds take longest to seal. Getting the cut in the right place — at the branch collar, never flush to the trunk — is what decides whether the tree closes the wound over or slowly decays at that point for the next decade.

We work to AS 4373, take it in stages where a lot of clearance is wanted, and stop if the tree cannot carry the removal in one season.

Approvals in the ACT

Because lower limbs are large, canopy lifting on a regulated tree very often crosses the 100 mm-diameter threshold that makes it major pruning under the Urban Forest Act 2023 — which requires approval. This is the pruning job most likely to catch people out, so it is worth checking before you book anyone. More on the ACT rules.

Looking after what is underneath

The area under a tree is where its roots are, and compaction does long-term damage that never shows up until years later. We keep machinery off the root zone, spread load where we have to cross it.