Get a pro in to lop this tree?

[NewspaperTaxis]

I have a tree in the garden about 30ft tall, I attach a picture with the wheelbarrow for a sense of scale. I'm thinking of lopping it to give more sunlight to the lawn. Now, I can get a tree surgeon in to do this, I daresay it might cost a couple of hundred? But if I were to do it myself, could I just, erm, saw it in half and truncate it? Say, around 10ft from the ground?

Would that kill the tree or harm it? Would it grow on from before on the trunk, or is that like sawing off your own leg and expecting it to grow back?

The tree doesn't look bad or unsightly, it's just grown a fair bit over the years.

The answer rather depends on the type of tree, which I can't identify from that photo.

But that appears to be a double trunk with a bit of stump in between, which suggests it's been cut down before and regrown.

Rather than reduce it, I'd be inclined to raise the canopy by removing the lower branches. That will let more light in underneath, and you could probably do that yourself with a step ladder (plus assistant to hold it), some long-handled loppers and a pruning saw.

Some 'tree surgeons' are little more than butchers with a chainsaw licence, and someone having a go at it could make it look truly awful. You should see the state that someone left MIL's Japanese maple in when that got too big and someone 'pruned' it. Took 20 years to recover to anywhere near as pretty as it was before.

If you do it yourself, post the footage on youtube when you get out of hospital and remember to give your neighbours your insurance details.

What exactly do you want? I mean do you really just want it shortened or canopy lift or taken down to stump or full removal? A decent tree surgeon's fee will include insurance, removal (chipper and ground blow) so you're not left with a mess, injury or damage to your/neighbour's property. Regrowth depends on species.

Hi everyone, here's a picture of the tree in brighter sunlight, and a detail of the leaves, for ID. I really ought to know what tree is in my own garden but if it's not an oak, a Hawthorne (why does that come up as upper case?) or plane tree, I'm a bit stumped, no pun intended.

Just looking to reduce the height though it's not a biggie.

I had tree surgeons in this week to sort out the mess my neighbours made of my tree a couple of years ago when they employed some cowboys to hack at it on their side. A good tree surgeon is worth the money.

I've got a good tree surgeon - but they charged about £200 to trim a Hawthorne tree not much more than 20ft high and for that money I may as well buy some telescopic sheers and do it myself. Was wondering if I might do something similar here.

If you go DIY you need to get proper safety gear (helmet, goggles, earmuffs, boots, chainsaw clothes, gloves etc and strapping). When looking at attachments you need to measure up branch diameters very carefully to get a workable solution. For just 1 tree it's unlikely to make £ sense.