Codominant lime tree - is it ‘fine’?

[evajo]

Hi all

 

I’m new here, so please bear with me.

 

I’m seeking views on a very tall lime tree in our garden. One tree surgeon said it’s ‘fine’ but is it?

 

Looks like it was planted to screen the row of garages from the road below it. There’s also a house down to the right from the tree.

 

The rest of the trees In the row aren’t ours. 

 

We had other trees removed last autumn (to the right of the tree in question) as they were showing signs of disease and leaning onto the houses down below.
 

I’m just wondering: is this tree really ‘fine’?

 

(post edited as felt was too long)

(edited again to remove images as potentially identifiable, sorry🙏)

Edited October 2 by evajo
Post was too long; remove images

[Mick Dempsey]

Opining from photos is always tricky.

But no, if it’s threatening property, it’s not fine, it’s likely to fail.

[evajo]

Thank you.
 

I’ve read in multiple sources that mature codominant tees cannot usually be reduced successfully. Is this true in your experience? 

[Mick Dempsey]

6 hours ago, evajo said:

Thank you.
 

I’ve read in multiple sources that mature codominant tees cannot usually be reduced successfully. Is this true in your experience? 

You can reduce and put in cabling or strops to hold them together.

That could cost the same as a removal.

Depends how much you want to keep the tree.

[evajo]

Thank you! I’ve found someone fairly local on the trees directory, just trying to see if I can get them to come out and inspect.

 

I like the tree but obviously common sense must prevail. I guess I’m just upset it had been neglected and the opportunity to correct had been missed

 

edit: just had it inspected. Apparently it’s not a concern, but if it fell it could ‘brush’ the house down from it and reducing it won’t help in any way so told to either leave ot or take it down. Taking it down won’t impact the ecosystem around it, what I’ve been told. 

 

Tough decisions ahead! 

Edited October 2 by evajo

[peds]

There was a great photo on here not long ago, I think, of half a failed co-dominant stem, showing the area of included bark really well.

To be honest, I forget if it was here or somewhere else, but it was a great example of what can happen. Anyone else remember it?

[evajo]

If I decide to take it down, what would be a suitable replacement? Preferably not something that grows to 20+ m tall. It’s semi shade and the root area seems restricted on one side due to a slope (not a steep bank but slopes downwards behind the tree). Would Japanese maple be suitable? Thank you 🙏 

Edited October 2 by evajo

[Steven P]

1 hour ago, peds said:

There was a great photo on here not long ago, I think, of half a failed co-dominant stem, showing the area of included bark really well.

To be honest, I forget if it was here or somewhere else, but it was a great example of what can happen. Anyone else remember it?

 

Yes, I remember but can't remember which thread it was in

[Steven P]

Would something smaller get dwarfed by the others around it I wonder?

[evajo]

3 hours ago, Steven P said:

Would something smaller get dwarfed by the others around it I wonder?

Perhaps it could be, it’s a valid point. From what I know, Japanese maple likes a bit of shade, hence why I was considering it. 

 

There is quite a bit of sun coming from the right hand side (there were trees there before but they weren’t safe so had to go last year).

 

Looks that whoever planted these trees didn’t take into account the height they might reach, but the houses down hill were built after the trees were planted, so perhaps there was no need to consider this at the time of planting. 

Edited October 2 by evajo
Removed pics so q about tree age redundant