Oak tree looks sick

[AHPP]

If you desperately want to keep the tree for the next ten years or so, pay a couple of farm lads with a telehandler, two telegraph poles and two feet of inch threaded rod £300 to prop it up. I suggest this mainly to upset the sort of people who work for power companies.

If you don’t want to keep the tree, pay a climber £200 to cut it down on a Saturday and get Facebook firewood hunters to tidy it up on the Sunday.

Usual caveat about photos but from what I see I’d fell it.

 

 

 

[Treeation]

21 hours ago, benedmonds said:

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.

I think this is the best advice so far

Edited July 8, 2019 by Treeation
typo

[Evan Owen]

Well this is the report.

BS 3998 2010 SNP TPO NO 59 Wern Fach..pdf

[Rushes]

Note that the work is recommended to be undertaken in 3 months, without this there is danger of greater damage.

[Paul Cleaver]

The report does not mention the sheer crack on the trunk, the formation of which, is likely to have formed from the depletion of strength of the dead or dying root/roots highlighted in your photograph!

 

 

 

 

 

[Paul Cleaver]

1 hour ago, EdwardC said:

The report author has had the benefit of a site visit to inspect the tree. They appear  experienced and qualified. No matter how experienced and qualified any of us are, we do not have x-ray vision nor can we accurately assess or make decisions on the future of the tree based on a few photos.

 

There is one issue I have; the mention of wild bees. I've never come across wild bees when surveying. They've always been calm, cool and collected, and just continued to go about their business. I have come across a few wasp nests in the bases of trees, and the wasps can become mildly agitated by a survey. However, from my experience, when bee colonies are cut in half when felling or dismantling a tree, the bees go from calm, cool and collected to utterly livid without apperaing to pass through a 'wild' state. This has led me to believe there should be a Scale of Angryness for bees, similar to the Scoville Scale for chillies describing the bees various states of angryness. Only in this way can we accurately address this matter in our risk assessments. BEWARE BEES just isn't good enough in these risk averse times.

 

 

 

I can see what you are saying Edward but he could have at least mentioned the crack and explained

 why this was not an issue, if that is what he believed.

 

An interesting comment regarding wild bees (honey bees).

I have been told by bee keepers that the vibrations from machinery can excite them, so that would obviously  be chainsaws and chippers in tree surgery. Find below some interesting facts about what can trigger honey bee aggressiveness. Having read this I would conclude the following. Do not work next to honey bee nests/hives until the onset of frosts in late Autumn and Winter, when they will have died. If emergency or high risk work needs to be carried out beforehand, then the nest should be professionally removed or killed.

 

What makes honey bees aggressive? - Honey Bee Suite

WWW.HONEYBEESUITE.COM

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Are your honey bees aggressive? Has a docile colony suddenly become unruly—chasing, circling, and stinging for no...

Quote

 

 

Edited August 18, 2019 by Paul Cleaver

[Paul Cleaver]

6 minutes ago, EdwardC said:

Well I'd never kill them.

That would be a last resort.I was just considering a worse case scenario. Bees nest in a cavity in a tree, that cant be rescued. Close to the nest, there is also a progressing crack in a large branch, expanding and contracting in the wind, which is overhanging a house.

[Paul Cleaver]

22 minutes ago, EdwardC said:

 We used to have a couple of hives at the yard. One evening I got stung on the cheek bone. It was the weekend of the '94 FA cup final, Man U v Chelsea. I remember walking down Wembley Way to some very odd looks. I'm allergic to bees and I'd got a shiner and swelling around my eye that looked like I'd done a couple of rounds with Mike Tyson. The number 1 haircut probably didn't help. We won 4-0. But I think the bee had the last laugh as half my face remained bruised for a couple of weeks. Not a great look when meeting clients.

I had allergic reaction to something I ate or touched many years ago. Imagine turning up at potential clients properties looking like a hamster!!!

[Paul in the woods]

A quick comment about the bees. As a bee keeper I would say colonies can be very different, some far calmer than others. Some for example you can mow near at any time, others can be more aggressive. The numbers do reduce in the winter but the wild colony may well survive and they can be active in the winter months if it's warm.

 

If you want some advice you could try your local bee keeping association, try here:

Swarm Help – Welsh Beekeepers' Association

WWW.WBKA.COM

Or you could get advice from the various UK bee keeping forums such has here:

Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPINGFORUM.CO.UK

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beekeeping forum

 

[Toad]

We had a nest of bees a significant way up a large beech which had died and was at risk of falling into the road, we blocked the entrance for them and had someone cut the tree off about 8' above the entrance into the bees nest. Sadly it turned out to be hollow a long way up the trunk and we now have two colonies of bees, one in the stem with a hessian and corrugated tin roof and one in the felled stem on the ground with a new plywood front door.