tomorrow reduction..lime with TPO

[Mick Dempsey]

I have a mahoosive maiden lime to reduce end of this month, dreading it if I’m honest.

Worst thing about the one pictured is it looks like everything is coming out the side of the house.

[Gareth 85]

1 hour ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Right then Gareth, let’s be having it!

hey there was quite a lot of dead wood in it and cavities,  seemed a lot more dead wood than the last time I did it 

[Gareth 85]

9 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

I have a mahoosive maiden lime to reduce end of this month, dreading it if I’m honest.

Worst thing about the one pictured is it looks like everything is coming out the side of the house.

yeah it was and there was 4 gardens  a lot of fences and 2 summer houses underneath some pretty big low limbs and we where not allowed access the the one area which I could have used to make the job easier..but got it done as best as I could and try keep the shape ..there was a lot less to work with on the right side...

[Gareth 85]

lots of cavities and crossed branches 

[Gareth 85]

1 hour ago, Mark J said:

A two week turnaround from the council is quite quick. Is the tree significantly compromised? Does the spec of the new report correspond to the wording of the initial TPO application?

the same private company have been maintaining the grounds for years and have asked for bits of work done on all the trees in the grounds and there is a even taller cedar and red wood next to the lime and the red woods been shedding considerable dead wood...and im sure the work had been agreed with another tree officer and was left while a decision was made regarding the two trees next to it..they are definitely too close together 

[Mick Dempsey]

Fwiw (my opinion) you’ve done a nice job there, I think the intention, at least the spec you posted, was to hit it harder, but skillful  work by any standards.

Thanks for following up.

[Gareth 85]

5 hours ago, Chris at eden said:

If they are reducing by 40% (ignoring the fact that reductions shouldn’t be specified in percentages), what exactly are they thinning?  The growing points I’m guessing!   Unless they are cleaning out the middle and lion tailing the growing points?   

 

 

I think that he was getting at the same treatment as last time and it when he was there he was saying to leave this branch,  and only cut any dead or epicormic growth in the lower areas, thin and clear out some of the middle and reduce the top as much as possible but without going to hard.

 there wasn't much to work with.. long branches without many growth points.

was hard to find a balance and keep a consistent shape with substantial enough crown left 

[Gareth 85]

18 minutes ago, Mick Dempsey said:

Fwiw (my opinion) you’ve done a nice job there, I think the intention, at least the spec you posted, was to hit it harder, but skillful  work by any standards.

Thanks for following up.

thanks...I was thinking about taking  it a bit lower and going a bit harder but once I started with the top  it soon became clearer that a lot of the more significant branches had very little in options and it would have been a problem to not have to take more unnecessarily from other parts to keep the balance and shape.

I did purposely start on the one side,  take the top down a bit and try a few different points down to about 30ft.

  asked the customers to give their opinion and then we did decide we could take a bit more off but being mindful of how dense the one side was but also how long the branches were with minimal growth points.

 

There was one pretty big limb that had a cavity filled with water near the trunk and another around the second point out,  I used a redirect to get to the end of the branches and the limb had a lot of movement in it and after taking a bit out, I descended onto a lower part and that extra weight slightly to one side was enough to cause the limb to twist then break at that second point and to bend /fall down with me on it lol but it didn't completely detach,  so it was definitely structurally compromised in places.

I took multiple photos to send him to be on the safe side.

thanks...I was thinking I wish I had a bit more to work with but not this time lol

[Mick Dempsey]

Water filled cavities are no bad thing, the water stops fungal decay in the rot pocket.

Or so I’m told, unless anyone can correct me on that?

[Gareth 85]

1 hour ago, Mick Dempsey said:

I have a mahoosive maiden lime to reduce end of this month, dreading it if I’m honest.

Worst thing about the one pictured is it looks like everything is coming out the side of the house.

I always used to prefer big reductions   especially if they were big oak  Turkish oak,  cedar or certain beech trees,  but I had pneumonia around 6 months ago and I was really ill...still haven't recovered from it and I don't feel anywhere near as fit or strong as I was before it.

I noticed that im finding it a lot harder physically to get around larger trees and its been frustrating to deal with..

but if I hadn't had pneumonia then the dr would not have picked up on a blood issue i didn't know i had...

Good luck with the reduction mate, sure you'll ace it