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Why Topping a Tulip Poplar Is a Bad Idea

Topping creates weakly attached regrowth that's even more prone to breaking in storms. You're caught between shade and safety. Best option: keep the tree, avoid parking or picnicking underneath, and accept the litter.

Topping never solves limb drop—it worsens it.

About Gardening: Tulip Tree Troubles: Sapsucker Damage and Basal Decay; Cut Blue Spruce Used as Christmas Tree: Cannot Be Replanted; Tulip Tree Branch Dieback: Water and Mulch for Recovery; Topping a Sycamore: Don't Do It—Remove and Replace; Pruning Lower Branches on a Young Ginkgo Tree; Cherry Tree Pruning in Delaware: Summer After Harvest to Avoid Silver Leaf; Maple Stump Sprouts: Can They Form a New Tree?; Saving an Oak Tree After Surface Root Cutting; Leyland Cypress Topping: Bad for Trees, Negotiate Removal Instead; Propagating Linden Trees from Cuttings

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Plants

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Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron) Suitability for South Central Kansas

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