Crown lifts
A crown lift is another form of management of the canopy of a tree but does so from the bottom up by removing the lower branches. This gives the appearance of raising the crown hence given the name crown lift or crown raise. In a woodland context trees will naturally do this as they compete with other trees and reach for the sky. Their energy goes into growing tall and as they do this the lower branches die off.
Again, this can be a good option where big mature trees dominate small spaces. Most trees just want to get big and tall. To reduce a mature tree to the point where it actually makes a difference to light levels can require considerable effort and cost as every branch needs reducing. It is also something that will need to be repeated. So rather than engaging in a running battle with a big tree in an attempt to suppress the size of its canopy, an alternative approach is just to let the tree grow big and tall but remove the lower branches allowing light in and under the canopy. This, in combination with a crown thin, works well as can be seen below on this mature horse chestnut.
