Poplars dying

[Arbgirl]

Hi all,

 

I was on a site the other day doing a site visit for non tree related work

 

I spotted a line of poplars that have been "topped"

 

Looks to me to have been about a 50% "reduction" (yes, I know)

 

Basically they have been butchered to 50% of what they were

 

One half of them show regrowth

 

One half look like they are dying

 

VERY high traffic area (ie people walking under them all day and people sleeping under them in caravans all night).

 

I know what I think about the safety/good arb practice of the work done on these trees but would be interested to hear what others think....

 

I reckon they should all come out for safety and aesthetic reasons - a cynical person might think that they were done by someone who was thinking about making sure they keep themselves in work for sometime afterwards making them "safe" etc in future

 

What does anyone else think about "pollarding" (pfft) poplars? Any idea whats killing them (Xanthomonas? or is it just the shock of the work that has been done on them)? Some regrowth was evident, but that seems to have died back and they just look dreadful.

 

I dont have any pics, sorry

[toprotter]

Hard to comment without pics ,site history etc

Perhaps they were in decline before and the owners because of the risk of targets/traffic a reduction reduced the potential hazard plus the owners didnt want full removal so maybe it was there last chance to save them.

Compaction sounds like one possible cause

How recently had they been done, lack of moisture in soil.

Maybe ground works have taken place nearby or leaking sewers or water pipes..

Information and monitoring of the trees 'we are detectives!'

[stihllearning]

ive just come back from looking at 2 pops that i pollarded last year in early feb and theyre showing exactly the same symptoms, there is also an exudate indicative of cytospora chrysosperma so the barks dead on the southern facing part of the stem.there are some signs of a second flush of foliage so fingers crossed they in some part will recover.

[Arbgirl]

The site changed hands recently and the work was done before this and no staff there now were there before it changed hands so its a bit of a guessing game. They are right next to a site road and buildings. I couldnt see any exudates but will have a better look next time. I guess the work was done like that as the client probably asked for that to be done. The trees are in an amenity planting bed, all other shrubs look fine and healthy. It looks like some regrowth appeared then died back - hopefully they will recover as the line in the other flower bed have done, I have a feeling the work was done in 2 stages with the sickly looking ones being done more recently - so perhaps they will recover. They will never look nice now though! Much as I dislike amenity planting of rowans and other piddly sized trees (thats a whole other argument) I can see that they (or other suitable species) would be much more appropriate in this situation (and a darn sight cheaper to maintain than the pops). The previous site owner has gone way OTT with his poplar planting though - the whole site seems to have been planted with them (windbreaks I think) - but could prove bloomin' expensive for the new owners in the long run. Having said that the smaller ones were planted without tree guards and the bunnies are doing a great job of ringbarking the smaller ones! I will keep an eye on them and maybe try and take some photos (although it might be hard to disguise the location in photos). I cant really get a look at the foliage as it would require aerial inspection!

 

Its not really my responsibility anyway, but I am always keen to investigate and learn - and hands on learning is always better than books!