On our property in the Shuswap some mature cedar trees are darkening the neighbouring property very much and the people have asked to be allowed to debranch some of our cedars. I am wondering, how big the remaining crown needs to be, so that the trees are going to stay healthy. The cedars are shaded by another row of equally mature cedar trees, all probably around 50-60' high, so that the debranched trunk would only be exposed to filtered sun in the middle of the day.
Which effect would it have on the tree to debranch more than a third of the crown size from the ground? Actually, I think there are very few and just very small branches that low. The drip line circle of those cedars is not very large, less than 10m. If we debranch just a third of that, my neighbour will not get any more light. Debranching is the compromise here opposed to taking down the tree.
