Birch roots

[treequip]

Why do you say myths

We have been asked in the past by insurers to stage reduce -Conifers and yews

Is this practice now frowned on?

 

I have done staged reductions for insurers and I will take their money as soon as the next man.

 

The main purpose of staged reductions seems to be to ameliorate heave which occurs primarily when you build on desiccated shrinkable clay then remove the mechanism (vegetation) that was maintaining the desiccation.

 

There is no evidence that staged removal has any effect and all you have to do is think about it to see the contradiction. If the tree is taking say 100l per day (for a round figure) and you hack it by thirds over time after the first “pruning” there will be an extra 30l per day available (disregarding the fact that the tree will probably use more water than previously to replace the hack) then 60l per day then the whole 100l per day. So hack it over time or all at once unless you do something to stop the water getting there you arrive at the same place.

 

I wouldn’t say the practice is frowned upon, I certainly don’t. I say your client is right. I am sure that at some point someone paid a well qualified person to come up with this strategy and for them I am just a man with a chainsaw so I say you should behave and take the money and do what the nice man said, but as a practice it doesn’t make any sense.

[mrtree]

Are you interested in an answer or finding out yourself? You need to do some literature searches and on-site investigation if you are writing a report or providing an oponion.

 

Legally if you say the roots will not damage the wall and something happens to the wall you could be held liable even if the problem is the wall's structure not the tree.

 

I do not live in an area with shrinkable clay soils but I would suggest you need to find out what is behind and under the wall. This may actually require material testing in a lab.

 

Secondly you may want to use an air spade or hydrovac to investigate the soil/wall interface for roots etc.

 

The problem I see is that you are giving an opinion on something you have no experience with. A bunch of guys on the internet is only one, and not the best, source of information on the specifics of the problem you have asked about.