The two kinds of cut
Arborists sort pruning cuts into two groups. A reduction cut shortens a limb back to a side branch (a lateral) that is at least about a third the diameter of the cut stem, which then keeps growing in the right direction. A heading cut ignores the side branch and cuts across the limb. The cut surface sits on a bud or a stub, which tends to sprout a thicket of fast, weakly attached shoots.
Because the sprouts are weak and the stub is exposed, heading cuts on large limbs lead to decay and breakage. The pruning standard treats topping as unacceptable for that reason. See why topping is not pruning.
Why it matters for Northern Nevada trees
Fruit trees, hedges and rose-like shrubs are fine candidates for heading cuts at small scale. Apples, pears and plums in valley orchards are often headed to shape new growth, and that is routine work. Shade trees are the opposite case. A silver maple or elm headed back to stumps responds with a flush of upright sprouts that are poorly attached, in a place where wind and wet snow punish exactly that kind of growth.
If you see a tree with flat-cut limbs and a crown of straight shoots, it was probably headed. Our guide to pruning fruit trees in Reno and Carson City explains where heading is correct.
What an arborist does about it
On shade trees the arborist uses reduction cuts, picks lateral branches that can carry the load, and takes less than people expect. On a tree already headed, the work is to choose a few of the new sprouts to keep as the future branches and slowly thin the rest, or to tell the owner honestly that the tree's best days are behind it.
Sources
- International Society of Arboriculture, Trees Are Good: Why Topping Hurts Trees (brochure) (read October 17, 2026)
- International Society of Arboriculture: ANSI A300 Standards (read October 17, 2026)