Pinning and reduction of large split on a Veteran Oak - opinions please

[Mick Dempsey]

17 minutes ago, carlos said:

no probably would look a bit odd, but do you think a lighter prune would keep it upright?

although in reality with no targets around one could probably leave it alone.

No one can really say.
 

Cable it and rod it, nibble some ends off and you’ve done the best you can whilst leaving something resembling a tree.

 

 

[openspaceman]

32 minutes ago, carlos said:

would anyone consider a harder prune than in the ops photos??

and maybe not bother with the rod pinning?

not saying this is the right thing to  do just wondering others opinion.

carl

Too late the rods look like they are already installed on the pictures but lousy mechanical advantage compared with a brace higher up.

 

 

[Mick Dempsey]

3 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

Too late the rods look like they are already installed on the pictures but lousy mechanical advantage compared with a brace higher up.

 

 

Ah yes, missed that.

[Mark Bolam]

1 hour ago, Mick Dempsey said:

I’d be more inclined to use proper cable bracing, you’ve got the big drill there anyway.

 

I meant as well as the rods mate.

Just as a bit of a ‘goalkeeper’ really.

[JSN]

54 minutes ago, carlos said:

would anyone consider a harder prune than in the ops photos??

Yep - One option would be to monolith it and hope a new crown forms.  Don’t really see the point in removing the live crown, leaving all that timber that still requires annual incremental growth.  

[MattyF]

Im quite happy rod bracing on say a beech but my experience of oak using rods and steel bracing is  that the Tanin reacts and the rods pull.. unless it’s galvanised or stainless rods I would not.. but rod bracing is good , I’ve saved a few trees with it.

Some of the American sites like tree stuff sell massive augers for rod bracing ,worth a look as you won’t get them in the uk so factor that in to the price. 

[openspaceman]

7 minutes ago, MattyF said:

Im quite happy rod bracing on say a beech but my experience of oak using rods and steel bracing is  that the Tanin reacts and the rods pull.. unless it’s galvanised or stainless rods I would not.. but rod bracing is good , I’ve saved a few trees with it.

Some of the American sites like tree stuff sell massive augers for rod bracing ,worth a look as you won’t get them in the uk so factor that in to the price. 

Acids, like tannin, will react with stainless in the anaerobic conditions inside the hole and similarly with zinc  too. As SS will need to be a larger diameter for the same strength this should lessen the problem. I never did any rod bracing and only a little wire rope stuff (and all prior to 1976) but I would have thought it better to pull the top together high up before tightening the rods (with large diamond washers under the nuts in my day).

[Dan Maynard]

56 minutes ago, JSN said:

Yep - One option would be to monolith it and hope a new crown forms.  Don’t really see the point in removing the live crown, leaving all that timber that still requires annual incremental growth.  

I don't know if it's an oak thing but I have seen a few roadside monoliths which appear to have just decided that was too much shock and are now stone dead.

 

I'd be inclined to leave it for a couple of years and see what happens, it's not an exact science but to me the ratio of stem length to crown height is low so there is significant amount of support from the root plate. I tend to think any human intervention like reducing the crown is going to have such a brief effect over the long lifetime of the tree it's a bit pointless.

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

To me it is safe to climb for a reductionor any other things, however why is the client deciding how to do that,it is non of her business ,how you doing it.

Edited January 22, 2023 by Sviatoslav Tulin

[MattyF]

11 hours ago, openspaceman said:

Acids, like tannin, will react with stainless in the anaerobic conditions inside the hole and similarly with zinc  too. As SS will need to be a larger diameter for the same strength this should lessen the problem. I never did any rod bracing and only a little wire rope stuff (and all prior to 1976) but I would have thought it better to pull the top together high up before tightening the rods (with large diamond washers under the nuts in my day).

Yes I’ve always done the rod bracing whilst the stems have been pulled together and sometimes crown reduced and braced, depending on tree and spec …you can get that gap to almost seal.

like I said my only experience of oaks is limited we braced them at college and I seem to remember a lot of pulled cables on the campus but site wise I had only had one veteran old pollard out side of Stevenage that must of pulled it’s cable every year for three years… in the end we put cobra on.. I think the tree was heavily re pollarded in the end too, but we aways used cobra bracing on oak since.