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<pre>Drastic pruning is one option. We had a similar problem but not quite so
severe. We wanted to keep the trees cropping so we took them down to
half their height but in stages. Picking is difficult with tall trees
but not impossible. The idea is to not only reduce the height - topping
- but to thin. You must restore the skirt of the tree which has been
lost due to shading. You want to stop the tree growing tall - that is
easy - but also push out the growth lower down - that is more diffcult.

The other factor is how are you going to pick them? If you use semi
mechanical methods tall trees are not such a problem as you can pick
from the ground without climbing inside or using ladders. A staged
reduction would be a better commercial bet.

Cheers Brian Chatterton.


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