What is the difference between lopping and pruning? The main differences are as follows: Lopping is the trimming of tree branches to reduce and modify the size of the tree. Pruning helps to protect trees against disease to aid health for long life.
Cut off (a branch, limb, or twig) from the main body of a tree.

The procedure includes cross-cutting the main stem or leaders and leaving behind the rest of the tree. The problem with tree lopping is that it will leave big malformed stubs where the cross-cutting happens and leaves the tree susceptible to a whole spectrum of problems. Lopped trees are susceptible to pest penetration, pathogen intrusion, internal decay, and relentless but weakly jointed re-growth.