Pollards, the forgotten art-discussion

[john p]

this is a great tree,on glastonbury festival site,its 52ft circumference at ground level!

[sean freeman]

Lovely pics of a lovely looking tree

 

Its doing pretty well considering all the hugging it must have had over the years

[sean]

Lovely pics of a lovely looking tree

 

Its doing pretty well considering all the hugging it must have had over the years

 

and god knows what else!

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

this is a great tree,on glastonbury festival site,its 52ft circumference at ground level!

 

Lovely root cone, theres one like this at Moccas:thumbup1:

 

looks to me like this is starting to separate unfortunately, If you follow the old pollard wound down the crease in the main stem its looking like internal shear on the most likely hollow tube of the stem is going to fail.

 

unless she sheds of course, and with any luck laetiporus will do the honours for this old girl.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

This Quercus robur was yesterdays job, its amazing this tree hadnt failed completley at the fork given the total decay in the upper regions of the union. The crack forming down the stem is clear, and the tree is actively compensating for it increasing incremental growth at the cracks point. Clearly the basal flare is indicating a degree of decay also, i suspect laeti is the stem decay as opposed to Fistulina, it is a brown rot, and shows no sign of buckling on the outer wall which i would associate with Fistulina, laeti causes a very different limb failure scenario also whch is sometimes almost undetectable in the failed unions, as apposed to those limb failures associated with F. hepatica which are much more brown rotted at the core before failure of limbs occurs.

 

It would have been so easy to justify felling of this veteran tree, so VERY easy, and I doubt many of you would have left this tree standing, or even considered it. So before you all start banging on about topping/regrowth/bad practice blah blah, consider the habitat this tree represents, and that this tree is going to be there long after we are gone.

 

Everyone was a winner in this scenario, peoples got LOTS of firewood, the client got lots of light and a smaller tree, the poeple using the alley beside the property are safer, the locals still get to enjoy a leafy suburb and the flora and fauna associated with veteran trees has an opportunity to survive.

 

 

[Lorry thompson]

Would the tree benefit from cobra bracing Tony? Or would it rely on it too much and fail to react in it's own way for strength?

[Adam Bourne]

nice work tony, should see it out for a few more years yet.

 

was gonna ask what lorry said to!?

 

Adam

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Would the tree benefit from cobra bracing Tony? Or would it rely on it too much and fail to react in it's own way for strength?

 

nice work tony, should see it out for a few more years yet.

 

was gonna ask what lorry said to!?

 

Adam

 

I was thinking the same, after a lot of thought I would prefer a three rod braced approach. 2 x through the union side by side then one between the two main stems higher up.

 

The tree would be able to grow over these in time, and eventualy/possibly secondary thicken to form a new un interupted (crack occluded) union.

 

im still contemplating it, as an interesting situation as apposed to a doable project as this isnt my place to suggest.

[David Goss]

You may be shocked to hear this from me but good job

See i am not completely against it in the right circumstances but you cant really say its a proper topping/pollarding its more a real heavy reduction for a purpose well done and good save...

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

You may be shocked to hear this from me but good job

See i am not completely against it in the right circumstances but you cant really say its a proper topping/pollarding its more a real heavy reduction for a purpose well done and good save...

 

when I saw you had posted I was expecting negativity, so shocked yes, and happy to see.