Topping cedars.

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timtune

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I have a tall cedars at each front corner of the house. I have a problem with squirrels making a nest between my asphalt shingles and the solar panels.

I think the squirrels are using the cedars as a ladder up to the roof. I hate the thought of nixxing the cedars completely. Is there any way to lop off 6-8 feet without them looking hacked up and dead near the top?
 
I cut the top off cedars that are ladders to my roof. When they are that close to the house, there is no good solution. If they are taller than the eaves, they don't look great, if they are shorter, they don't look great. I cut them ~12" below eaves. They have grown and I need to do it again this year.

As for solar panel critters, you want critter guard around them to seal that gap. Animal/bird crap/piss beats up your shingles. Critter guard should permanently fix the problem.
 
I have a similar issue with some conifers. I lopped off the tops and then started shaping the sides slowly over the past few years to create a more boxed hedge than tapered tree shapes. The trick is not to butcher the sides at one time or you can end up with dead growth areas that don’t really grow back well. It may be similar with cedars.

I did briefly consider coating the trunk in aluminum foil and attaching that to the mains electricity but that’s only because the squirrels were busy ruining parts of my garden that year.
 
The only problem with topping them, the branches will grow out wide and not up.

Yes, cutting the top (topping) of a cedar tree or hedge will encourage it to grow wider and become bushier because the energy previously used for vertical growth is redirected to side branches. While it fills out laterally, topping often causes the top to become denser or appear flat-topped, and it stops significant upward growth. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
 
Squeeze was reading that squirrels can scamper up on the roof pretty much with or without the cedars. Now I'm not sure topping will help with the original problem.
 
timtune said:
Squeeze was reading that squirrels can scamper up on the roof pretty much with or without the cedars. Now I'm not sure topping will help with the original problem.
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The rodents have no problem climbing stucco and brick on my house. I haven't seen them hang from the soffit and climb around the eavestrough but I wouldn't be surprised if they can.
 
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