What is best for this tree??

[DanBous]

Hi Guys,

 

Just wondering what you would do with this poplar...

 

It's right next to the house, the client doesn't want to remove it, but wants it to be made "safe"

 

There is a small amount of deadwood to be removed, apart from this would you Pollard the whole thing, or reduce your a third...I've never done a poplar before, and I can't see that a Pollard or a 30 percent reduction would be much different (I appreciate that it depends on how heavy you Pollard it)

 

Also, if pollarding was an option, would this create lots of regrowth that would be a safety issue due it's weak unions with the old wood??

 

Your help would be much appreciated

 

Thanks

 

Dan

[Mark Bolam]

Remove.

 

Any other spec is ultimately futile.

 

It will be rotten before you finish packing your tools away.

 

Ridiculously bad planting decision in the first place.

[Ian C]

You cannot make it "safe" only as safe as possible, your client needs to know the difference! 

 

You can top it by half and in 10 yrs it will be a rotten as, pointless reducing it sympathetically, "Pollarding" is an overused spec as "Pollarding" should only be done correctly on trees up to 10yrs of age in the true sense, "Pollarding " is the modern term for Topping. By topping it your basically doing a staged fell as it will rot quickly and re growth will be weak, Remove to base like Mark said if the only real practical solution. 

 

bad planting as Mark states

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Shame, a nice tree...in the wrong place  

 

"see above"

 

PS Check for usual TPOs etc.

Edited February 26, 2019 by AA Teccie (Paul)
Additional info / text

[Steve Bullman]

If they really don't want to remove it but make it safe, then despite all the answers above(which are all correct) then pollarding(topping) is the only viable option IMO. They would need to know that it would need redoing at very regular intervals afterwards to keep it 'safe'. Fell is ultimately the best long term option

[tree-fancier123]

I halved a row of them by my mums place, 4 years on there is about 10ft new stuff, I don't doubt they've got rot pockets already, but so what? They still like the tree line and don't have the worry of storm damage.

[AHPP]

I agree with everyone above. Remove is most sensible decision by miles.

 

If they really really really want to keep it:

Leave it alone and you might be lucky or a dead bit as thick as your arm might smash a gutter or some tiles if you’re unlucky. But they want it safe so dead and hangers (and the potential for future ones) won’t help their peace of mind.

Top it at ladder height and condemn it to regular re-topping but at least you won’t have to climb very high or use big saws (will make ongoing maintenance viable for them). A nice bit of silky or 150 work every two or three years but bear in mind if the regrowth is over the house and gets too big to cut and hold, you’ve got the serious pain in the arse of a weak tree with basically no tie in or rigging points. Edited to add: Access looks good though so a relatively small cherry picker from road or garden would be a relatively cheap get out of jail free card there.

I definitely wouldn’t cut the top third or half off. You’d be creating shit unions at a height that’s financially prohibitive to get to and therefore with bigger wood that has further to fall.

 

All shit options though. Remove it.

 

 

 

 

 

[JonnyRFT]

Perhaps discuss with the client if they’re prepared to pay for a monitoring service. Inspect on regular intervals as practicable as possible providing the cost doesn’t outweigh substantial work needed on it. This has been an option for me a few times where the tree wants to be kept. Understandably, I work in a slightly different environment and I don’t know if the same service can be applied to commercial/domestic situations.

[Mark Bolam]

25 minutes ago, tree-fancier123 said:

I halved a row of them by my mums place, 4 years on there is about 10ft new stuff, I don't doubt they've got rot pockets already, but so what? They still like the tree line and don't have the worry of storm damage.

Do you not think it’s time you did them again then?

Climbing regen on lombardies isn’t anyone’s idea of fun.

You can bust some of the unions off with a hard stare.

[tree-fancier123]

14 minutes ago, AHPP said:

Top it at ladder height and condemn it to regular re-topping but at least you won’t have to climb very high or use big saws (will make ongoing maintenance viable for them). A nice bit of silky or 150 work every two years but bear in mind if the regrowth is over the house and gets too big to cut and hold, you’ve got a serious pain in the arse of a weak tree with basically no tie in or rigging points. Edited to add: Access looks good though so a relatively small cherry picker from road or garden would be a relatively cheap get out of jail free card there.

I definitely wouldn’t cut the top third or half off.

you do have a good point there - that is a fair size one and even if its halved it would be a dangerous job to retop in 5 years time without  a mewp. I like the ladder height option - the mature trunk is a garden feature the owners may want to keep