An afternoon of tree surveying.

[Matthew Arnold]

i've been taught by my colleagues and contractors that we use that fruiting bodies only expose themselves after being in the tree for a few years which by that time the damage has already been done and will only get worse. Is that correct? And we will get one of our county council tree officers who is also an ex-tree surgeon to do a report on all of them which have defects.

[Bundle 2]

"i've been taught by my colleagues and contractors that we use that fruiting bodies only expose themselves after being in the tree for a few years which by that time the damage has already been done and will only get worse. Is that correct?"-Not exactly , no. Its a generalisation and it is not that simple...Any arborist who thinks it is, simply has not done the fairly basic legwork which would shatter these cosy one liners that explain the universe!

Example...birch is infected with polypore at cellulat level even as uninitiated seed.....By this reckoning....its all over for the birch afore it's started!

[Matthew Arnold]

Thank you Bundle 2 . That has cleared it up alot.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

What bundle is saying is that some fungi will be within a tree in such an integral way that they are even within the seed of the trees they host on and have co evolved with for millions of years.

 

he is saying that the advise your colleuges offered is "basic" and of little true use on a serious level.

 

a couple of weeks, a year even reading a few basic texts and doing a few courses will never give you a good knowledge of fungi, it is too deep, too wide tooo complex for simple statements like those made by your good friends. Its probably going to be a long long long long time before we have this fungi lark anywhere near "quantifiable"

 

I think thats what he meant to say? Bundle?

[arb culture]

Matt, I'd generally agree with the advice given on here about your trees but on the understanding that without seeing them first hand it is impossible to give any proper recommendations for action - you really should get them checked out by someone suitably qualified if you are going to retain them.

 

My previous post wasn't meant to be obstructive I was just in a rush and I should have taken the time to make the point more carefully.

 

I just wanted to remind people that if you have a legal responsibility for a tree you should never rely on recommendations given to you on an internet forum without first ensuring that you are sufficiently confident of their reliability.

 

Also, I don't know many professional consultants who would be happy to diagnose and make recommendation for action on a tree without first seeing it first hand.

[Matthew Arnold]

We had an ex-tree surgeon with 30 years expirience of tree surgery and tree inspection and he had condemned the 2 with Dryad's Saddle after doing a echo sounder check. Both of which were rather rotten at the point of entry for the fruiting bodies and got more so towards the base but the sycamore has to be monitored and if needs be we can have it braced so if the roots do give way it will fall either sideways or back into the wood.

[arb culture]

We had an ex-tree surgeon with 30 years expirience of tree surgery and tree inspection and he had condemned the 2 with Dryad's Saddle after doing a echo sounder check. Both of which were rather rotten at the point of entry for the fruiting bodies and got more so towards the base but the sycamore has to be monitored and if needs be we can have it braced so if the roots do give way it will fall either sideways or back into the wood.

 

Seriously Matt, you need to get someone out with the proper qualifications if you are intending to keep trees with obvious defects in areas which are 'frequently visited'.

 

You need to check their qualifications and insurance as a minimum. Once you've obtained professional advice you should then follow their recommendations. Unless you think the advice is not good; then you should get a second opinion.

 

Always make sure you are using someone suitably qualified - remember the Poll case.

 

After your last post I'm a bit confused though as to whether or not you're doing this.

[Matthew Arnold]

I know it sounds a bit confusing but the ex-tree surgeon is also a tree officer and has a degree in tree related matters. he is insured under the county council insurance policy so he can climb the trees to give them a thorough survey. We had them surveyed today as we were in the area as was he. We are going to be following his recommendations as closely as possible. Most of the work is contractor work as only one of us has the relevant tree climbing courses under his belt. And we cna only do "minor" tree works (deadwooding and dangerous limb removing). But we carry out the winter felling unless its over a road or near houses. We are getting the district council tree officer to survey the trees next tuesday so hopefully he will say the same thing about the trees. If not then we would have to wait and see what happens next.

[arb culture]

Thanks Matt, I was getting a bit confused. It all becomes clear now.

[Matthew Arnold]

lol. we generally have two or even three tree officers come round to look at the trees. sometimes all at the same time as it is nice to get three opinions at once and if they all say the same thing then it makes it alot easier. our head tree officer in the council has a masters degree in arboriculture so he is pretty on the ball. what confuses us is that he tells us the fungi names in latin not english. so when you have a tree with 5 or more fungi around it. it can get rather confusing.