diff --git a/packages/ludic.render3d/scatter.ludic b/packages/ludic.render3d/scatter.ludic
index 48d70f6a..fcbea5de 100644
--- a/packages/ludic.render3d/scatter.ludic
+++ b/packages/ludic.render3d/scatter.ludic
@@ -1058,6 +1058,7 @@ function scatter_draw(render3d_st: mut Render3dState) -> void {
 # whole class of caster vanish at a fixed distance, which is exactly the popping. A layer
 # with an impostor now casts its entire instance list from the card in every cascade;
 # only layers that have no impostor at all fall back to the mesh.
+const SC_IMP_CAST_CASCADE: int = 2
 function scatter_draw_casters(render3d_st: mut Render3dState, light_vp: floats) -> void {
   for i in 0 .. len(render3d_st.sc_layers) {
     let l = render3d_st.sc_layers[i]
@@ -1067,7 +1068,10 @@ function scatter_draw_casters(render3d_st: mut Render3dState, light_vp: floats)
     if render3d_st.r3d_no_trees and l.imp != null and not l.card { continue }
     layer_update(render3d_st, l)
     if l.imp != null {
-      layer_draw_shadow(render3d_st, l, light_vp)
+      # the impostor casts only into the far cascades: every tree on the map was drawn as a card
+      # into the near two as well, whose receivers (within 60 m) are shaded by the near trees'
+      # own LOD2 meshes, cast just below
+      if render3d_st.sh_cascade >= SC_IMP_CAST_CASCADE { layer_draw_shadow(render3d_st, l, light_vp) }
       # Shadow LOD (the practice in every production engine: a caster uses a low mesh LOD,
       # the billboard only far away). The card alone is a side-view silhouette and a
       # crown of drooping needle cards is mostly slivers from the side, so the sun, which