Which lift should I use to prune tree crowns in a park and beside a road?

Most often a diesel articulating boom lift 4×4: the platform goes in under and beside the crown, and the machine drives over the lawn. In our fleet that means 16 m (for example Manitou 160 ATJ, Haulotte HA16 PX), 18–20 m (JLG 510AJ, Genie Z-60/34, Haulotte HA20 PX) and 26 m (Haulotte HA260 PX, JLG 800AJ). On paths and squares with a hard surface, a 15 m electric articulating boom lift works well, quiet and emission-free. When the machine has to stand far from the tree, for example behind a ditch or a strip of planting, use a telescopic boom lift.

How does tree care differ from tree felling?

Care means routine cuts: removing dead and broken branches, thinning and shaping the crown, raising the crown over a pavement or carriageway, trimming tall hedges. You work with light equipment, usually in one place for hours. Felling means cutting down a tree or thick limbs in sections on ropes: heavier work, which we cover in a separate article. The machines are the same, but the organisation, the drop zone and the choice of capacity differ.

Do I need permits to prune trees in a town?

It depends on the scope of the work and on who owns the land. Pruning branches alone usually needs no permit, but the Nature Conservation Act prohibits removing more than 30% of the crown (with exceptions, for example for dead or partly broken branches). A heavier reduction damages the tree and is punishable by a fine. Removing a tree requires a permit from the municipality, and private individuals on their own plot, with no link to a business activity, notify the intention to remove large trees. Small trees are not covered by either obligation. Trees growing in the road reserve are the responsibility of the road authority. Occupying a carriageway, pavement or cycle path with the machine and the zone under the platform requires a permit from the road authority and traffic arrangements. The land manager or the client checks the consents before the machine is rented; the timing of cuts can also be limited by bird protection in the nesting season. If in doubt, ask the municipality.

How tall a lift do I need for a tall hedge?

For a hedge several metres high, an electric scissor lift of 8–12 m on hard ground is enough, or a diesel rough terrain scissor lift of 12 m with a large platform, when you can stand directly beside the hedge. When there is a ditch, fence or wide strip of planting between the machine and the hedge, use an articulating boom lift 4×4, which extends the platform over the obstacle. The working height should equal the height of the top of the hedge plus a margin for working freely with shears.

Who may operate a lift for green space maintenance?

A person with a UDT qualification certificate for mobile elevating work platforms (UDT is the Polish Office of Technical Inspection). Parks departments and gardening companies without such qualifications can rent a lift with an operator or send an employee on training. People in the platform wear safety harnesses with a lanyard attached to the anchor point, and the zone under the platform is fenced off for the duration of the cutting.

Knowledge base

Lift for urban tree care: crowns and hedges

Tree crowns in parks and along roads are pruned from a diesel 4×4 articulating boom lift (16–26 m), on paths from a 15 m electric one, and tall hedges from an 8–12 m scissor lift. How care differs from felling, how to choose height and outreach, how to protect the lawn and roots and what permissions to agree with the land manager.

Updated: 9 October 2026 · Published: 6 October 2026 · Author: RK Rental team

For the care of urban greenery (pruning tree crowns beside streets and in parks, removing dead branches over pavements and trimming tall hedges) you use a cherry picker (aerial work platform, MEWP): a diesel articulating boom lift 4×4 of 16–26 m on lawns and soft ground, an electric articulating boom lift of 15 m on paths and squares, a telescopic boom lift when the machine has to stand far from the tree, and for hedges a scissor lift of 8–12 m. The worker stands in the platform with secateurs or a saw instead of climbing a ladder or the tree. It is lighter work than felling, which is covered in a separate article. Below: which machine for which greenery, how to choose the height, how to protect the lawn and what you need to agree with the land manager.

Which lift for which greenery?

Diesel articulating boom lift 4×4 — the basic choice for tree crowns: the platform goes in under and beside the crown. 16 m (Manitou 160 ATJ, horizontal outreach 8.3 m; Haulotte HA16 PX, 9.2 m), 18 m (JLG 510AJ, 9.48 m), 20 m (Genie Z-60/34, 11.05 m; Haulotte HA20 PX, 13.5 m), 26 m (Haulotte HA260 PX, 14.6 m). It drives over lawns, embankments and gravel.
Electric articulating boom lift — 15 m (Manitou 150 AET2, outreach 8.86 m; Haulotte HA15 IP, 8.65 m), quiet and emission-free: park avenues, courtyards, small squares and housing estates with a hard surface. The weight of 7.1–7.2 t means the load capacity of paving and slabs must be checked.
Telescopic boom lift — Genie S-45 (15.7 m, outreach 11.2 m), JLG 460SJ (16.1 m, 12.7 m), Genie S-85 (27.9 m, outreach 23.3 m), and the tallest up to about 57 m (Genie SX-180). For trees growing behind a ditch, fence or wide strip of planting: the machine stands far away and the platform reaches straight to the crown from outside.
Scissor lift — for tall hedges and shrubs, when you can stand along them on level ground: an electric one of 8–12 m (for example Genie GS-3246, 11.75 m) on a path or pavement, a diesel rough terrain one of 12 m with a platform 3.8–3.9 m long, which extension decks lengthen to 5–6 m (Haulotte H12SX, JLG 3394RT), on soft ground. A long platform lets you move along the hedge without constantly lowering.

How does green space maintenance differ from tree felling?

Care means routine cuts, not removing the tree:

removing dead, broken and dangerous branches over a pavement, path, benches and playground,
thinning and shaping the crown,
raising the crown over the carriageway and pavement, so that branches do not hide signs and lamp posts and do not enter the clearance envelope of vehicles,
trimming tall hedges and rows of trees that a ladder cannot reach.

You work with light equipment and usually for a long time in one place. Felling thick limbs in sections, on ropes and with a drop zone, is covered in the article lift for tree felling and care; for work along streets the text on work beside roads will also be useful.

How do you choose height and outreach for a crown or hedge?

Working height is the height of the platform floor plus about 2 m of arm reach. For the highest cutting point you choose a machine with a working height equal to it or slightly greater, and for crowns with a margin, because the platform must go into the crown, not just reach its top. As a guide: branches at about 8–10 m need a 12 m machine, up to about 14 m a 16 m articulating boom lift, and rows of tall trees 20–26 m.

The second parameter is horizontal outreach, the distance from the centre of the machine to the working point. The machine can rarely stand right under the crown, because trunks, benches, lamps and kerbs get in the way. Full outreach is available at part of the height; the reach chart of the given model shows this.

How do you avoid damaging the lawn and roots?

Machine weight — an articulating boom lift 4×4 weighs from about 5 t to over 20 t (Genie Z-34/22 IC: 4,994 kg, Manitou 160 ATJ: 6,160 kg, Haulotte HA20 PX: 11,710 kg, Genie Z-135/70: 20,366 kg). Load-spreading plates are laid under the wheels and outriggers.
Roots — a heavy machine compacts the soil under the crown, which harms the roots, so where possible it is positioned further from the trunk. This is another reason to choose a model with a greater horizontal outreach.
Ground — embankments, ditches, manholes and services under the lawn may not carry the load of the wheels; after rain, soft ground needs plates or the work moved to a drier date.
Transport — machines are delivered by trailer or specialist transport; the access route and the width of park gates are checked before delivery, as we describe in the article how to prepare the site for delivery.

What consents and dates do you need to agree?

Owner or manager of the land — a park, square, housing estate or road reserve has managers and rules for greenery; removing a tree may require a permit from the municipality (or a notification, where it concerns a private individual on their own plot), and removing more than 30% of a tree’s crown is prohibited (with exceptions, for example for dead or partly broken branches). The application for a permit is submitted by the holder of the property (with the owner’s consent), for example the land manager, and not by the contractor carrying out the work.
Road reserve — occupying a carriageway, pavement or cycle path with the machine or the zone under the platform requires a permit from the road authority and traffic arrangements.
Timing of cuts — bird protection: in the nesting season nests must not be destroyed or removed; nests in green areas and on structures may be removed only from 16 October to the end of February and only for safety or sanitary reasons. The season also affects the health of the trees, so the date is agreed with the greenery manager or the person supervising the work.
Power lines — branches near overhead conductors are cut after agreement with the network operator; the platform and boom stay outside the danger zone.

How do you work safely in the platform near greenery?

the zone under the platform and the zone where branches fall are fenced off and marked, and no bystander enters them,
people in the platform wear safety harnesses with a lanyard attached to the anchor point, and tools are secured against falling,
with a large amount of cut material, the waste is dropped at a designated place or lowered on a rope, not thrown onto a path,
wind limits the work: the limit from the machine’s rating plate applies, and a moving crown is unpredictable,
paths and pavements within reach of falling branches are closed for the duration of the cutting.

The operator holds a UDT certificate; parks departments and gardening companies without an operator take the machine with an operator. We have collected the general rules for working in the platform in the article safe work at height. In the enquiry give the height of the highest cut, the distance from which the machine can stand from the crown or hedge, the type of ground, the width of gates and the date, and we will choose the model, arrange its delivery and collect it after the work.

Frequently asked questions

Which lift should I use to prune tree crowns in a park and beside a road?: Most often a diesel articulating boom lift 4×4: the platform goes in under and beside the crown, and the machine drives over the lawn. In our fleet that means 16 m (for example Manitou 160 ATJ, Haulotte HA16 PX), 18–20 m (JLG 510AJ, Genie Z-60/34, Haulotte HA20 PX) and 26 m (Haulotte HA260 PX, JLG 800AJ). On paths and squares with a hard surface, a 15 m electric articulating boom lift works well, quiet and emission-free. When the machine has to stand far from the tree, for example behind a ditch or a strip of planting, use a telescopic boom lift.
How does tree care differ from tree felling?: Care means routine cuts: removing dead and broken branches, thinning and shaping the crown, raising the crown over a pavement or carriageway, trimming tall hedges. You work with light equipment, usually in one place for hours. Felling means cutting down a tree or thick limbs in sections on ropes: heavier work, which we cover in a separate article. The machines are the same, but the organisation, the drop zone and the choice of capacity differ.
Do I need permits to prune trees in a town?: It depends on the scope of the work and on who owns the land. Pruning branches alone usually needs no permit, but the Nature Conservation Act prohibits removing more than 30% of the crown (with exceptions, for example for dead or partly broken branches). A heavier reduction damages the tree and is punishable by a fine. Removing a tree requires a permit from the municipality, and private individuals on their own plot, with no link to a business activity, notify the intention to remove large trees. Small trees are not covered by either obligation. Trees growing in the road reserve are the responsibility of the road authority. Occupying a carriageway, pavement or cycle path with the machine and the zone under the platform requires a permit from the road authority and traffic arrangements. The land manager or the client checks the consents before the machine is rented; the timing of cuts can also be limited by bird protection in the nesting season. If in doubt, ask the municipality.
How tall a lift do I need for a tall hedge?: For a hedge several metres high, an electric scissor lift of 8–12 m on hard ground is enough, or a diesel rough terrain scissor lift of 12 m with a large platform, when you can stand directly beside the hedge. When there is a ditch, fence or wide strip of planting between the machine and the hedge, use an articulating boom lift 4×4, which extends the platform over the obstacle. The working height should equal the height of the top of the hedge plus a margin for working freely with shears.
Who may operate a lift for green space maintenance?: A person with a UDT qualification certificate for mobile elevating work platforms (UDT is the Polish Office of Technical Inspection). Parks departments and gardening companies without such qualifications can rent a lift with an operator or send an employee on training. People in the platform wear safety harnesses with a lanyard attached to the anchor point, and the zone under the platform is fenced off for the duration of the cutting.