Oak tree looks sick

[Paul Cleaver]

1 hour ago, Evan Owen said:

The forestry commission guy disagreed with me about the stones weakening the trees, he said it made them stronger...! We can't afford the upkeep of all these trees, that one was leaning over before we bought the land in 2001, it was doing that because there were 5 within 15 feet of each other competing for light and water on a large bed of rocks (prehistoric we think). The remaining trees have bulbous bottoms, what caused that? 

Tree roots come up against stones/ rocks and try to grow around them. If you have too many stones and rocks then the roots cant get the depth they want to, to gain a decent anchorage. This is even more of an issue with a leaning tree which would need even  thicker structural support roots for anchorage. The bulbous bottoms on the main structural support/ anchor roots are  roots that have thickened up in response to the trees needs such as extra support needed for the tree to withstand wind load, sometimes combined with other factors like  leaning trees, insufficient support in the existing ground conditions and where there is decay in the trunk and/or main anchor roots

[Paul Cleaver]

9 minutes ago, Treeation said:

Wouldnt consider a crown reduction then Paul?

 

No. Look at the decay and the base of the tree. I think this has come up from the roots. Then look at the shear crack that has developed from the lack of strength in the roots  putting pressure on the trunk. The lean of the tree compounding the problem further

[Evan Owen]

7 minutes ago, Paul Cleaver said:

No. Look at the decay and the base of the tree. I think this has come up from the roots. Then look at the shear crack that has developed from the lack of strength in the roots  putting pressure on the trunk. The lean of the tree compounding the problem further

There is a hammerhead right up to the tree, must have taken away roots in the early 70s  

[Paul Cleaver]

1 hour ago, Treeation said:

Wouldnt consider a crown reduction then Paul?

 

I should have added to my previous reply, The tree looks in decline physiologically, and its going to need a pollard so it misses the HV line if it colapses. I don't think the odds would be in its favour to survive this

[benedmonds]

That oak tree is worth retaining if possible.. It will likely tolerate a hard reduction it is trying to do it naturally itself.. You can see internal canopies to cut back to.

 

It's what engliah oaks do.. thats why they can live 900 years.

[Paul Cleaver]

56 minutes ago, Evan Owen said:

There is a hammerhead right up to the tree, must have taken away roots in the early 70s  

had to be something Evan

[Paul Cleaver]

5 minutes ago, benedmonds said:

That oak tree is worth retaining if possible.. It will likely tolerate a hard reduction it is trying to do it naturally itself.. You can see internal canopies to cut back to.

 

It's what engliah oaks do.. thats why they can live 900 years.

its nice thought Ben - could be worth a try? In the above photo are  you  suggesting a 2 phase reduction? I personally would not be happy with that with the position of that HV line

[Paul Cleaver]

6 minutes ago, EdwardC said:

I'm not convinced you can make a decision on what to do based on a few photographs. A site visit/investigation would be needed to provide sufficient information to determine what action to take.

 

 

Agreed - Get on it ASAP Evan

[benedmonds]

2 hours ago, Paul Cleaver said:

its nice thought Ben - could be worth a try? In the above photo are  you  suggesting a 2 phase reduction? 

As Edward said specification from a photo is not really best practice. But that tree should retained if possible. The 2 lines I drew showed 2 different internal canopies either could be cut back to imo depending on the assessment of the trees stability.

 

It would probably be better for the tree if it could be done in a staged manner but if you are concerned with the stability you are probably going to want to cut to the red line to make a significat difference and so probably wouldn't be happy leaving it at the orange line for a year or so..

 

There are also additional costs doing it staged.

 

I might add I don't think the soil type is relevant or the other tree that fell over.

[monkeybusiness]

From the pics I’d bet that a heavy reduction to Ben’s orange line would see that tree outlasting all of us, and even if it failed it wouldn’t then hit the transformer pole.

But it isn’t possible to make such a call just from pics.

Give SPEN a call - if you’d prefer to keep the tree (which I think you should, but it’s your tree to do with as you see fit) let them know and their surveyor should be qualified enough to advise the best course of action. As Paul said, they will more than likely pay their contractor to undertake the works at no expense to you, but to a specification agreed by you. 

Let us know the outcome!