Where to cut this oak to minimise stress on what remains

[SbTVF]

Farmers/Firewood merchant more than homeowners question here but... Big old 5 stemmed (possibly coppiced a long long time ago) oak and 2 of the stems are leaning heavily over a field edge so far that we haven't had a tractor under for years.

 

We'd like access but don't want to damage the tree if it can be helped as the remaining 3 stems are easily over 20" dbh and looking very healthy.

 

Pictures attached, where is the best place to cut please? In the second picture one stem is directly behind the other.

[Rough Hewn]

Bore cut at 4' up.
Sap wood cut on each side
Dogs tooth.
Preferably in January.
[emoji106]

[Rough Hewn]

Get a professional in to drop that leaning stem into the field.
If you can take over from that point it'll be a lot cheaper.

Where are you based?

[SbTVF]

Get a professional in to drop that leaning stem into the field.
If you can take over from that point it'll be a lot cheaper.

Where are you based?

Perfectly capable of doing it myself safely, just don't know the biological repercussions of cutting it in the wrong place and getting the rest of the tree more stressed than need be.

[Stere]

I reckon here but dunno and % prob of sucessful regrowth hard to predict. Drought conditions atm for many places in UK etc recently

 

Maybe do it in stages but then excesss shade may be an issue though partial light shade could be a benefit?

 

Some neglected pollards think they advocated doing staged work.

 

 

 

 

Might not regrow though?

[Khriss]

More a case of where it is - had a healthy mature Oak pollarded yesterday. Stilted root flare and was unsure, Target was multi million £££, so had it Pollard fr Habitat ( at crownbreak) lots of other similar Oaks nearby and the Eco benefit is improved with a big Owl box on it an pecker holes bored in it. Open grassland next to boundary, so wols can enjoy  ? . Decide yr intent or need. K

[SbTVF]

Only that stem and the one directly behind it you can't see from that angle I want out.

Theres a big heavily infected with dieback ash about 2m away that needs to come down too. They're both edge trees on a 2acre woodland of ours that I'm thinning bit by bit to improve diversity.

[tree-fancier123]

with big wounds right near the ground it could be more prone to decay getting into the 3 retained stems, the leaning one could be cut into the field a bit and still give access, for the reason of slowing/preventing infection I would suggest 10ft above ground.

I'm not a consultant. If you paid the best consultant in the land for their advice you would be very upset at the loss of so much money, but your tree may end up happier.

Edited May 30, 2020 by tree-fancier123

[waterbuoy]

1 minute ago, tree-fancier123 said:

I'm not a consultant. If you paid the best consultant in the land for their advice you would be very upset at the loss of so much money, but your tree may end up happier.

I suspect if you paid three consultants you would get three different answers!

[tree-fancier123]

23 minutes ago, waterbuoy said:

I suspect if you paid three consultants you would get three different answers!

Tree management isn't like mathematics, so yes opinions prevail, but you should see a trend emerge if say 10 consultants were asked on where to cut that lapsed pollard with a view to removing 2 and retaining 3 stems.

Also I've no idea who the best consultant is thought to be.

Jeremy Barrell is a famous one, but there are probably a dozen really good ones, with another 1200 people holding the level 6 qual who sort of know what they are on about

Edited May 30, 2020 by tree-fancier123

[tree-fancier123]

also the timing of cutting is a consideration - I would try to avoid autumn when majority of fungal decay spores are released, now would be good except as Stere mentioned there is already drought stress. Early summer if no drought or late December/ January good times.