London Plane- no recovery after pollard- help?

[silkystealthsurgeon]

Hi guys

my neighbour had her London Plane tree pollarded 2-3 months ago. There are no signs of new growth anywhere on the tree. Its an old one, I don't know the DBH exactly but i would guess at just over a metre. I read that one shouldnt pollard mature or old trees, not sure whether thats nonsense or not. Any help or ideas? I fear the poor old thing may have suffered a lot!

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Dont panic yet, its early days, it may just be that all buds have been removed and advantigous ones have not yet broken through the bark, but they will, have faith.

 

Planes tend to be very good pollards.

[redmoosefaction]

we once put a log of plane on the ground.. 3 weeks later it ROOTED and sprouted!!

[silkystealthsurgeon]

ah thanks for the replies guys. as hamadryad said the bark has now [within the last few days] started to bud so I think it will recover. it would have been a terrible shame if it had finished it off and as a result needed to be taken out, its a great tree!

[armchairarborist]

give it time, a customer i re-pollarded a pop for late lastyear rang lastweek wondering why it looked dead, i told her to give it chance as unlike the old growth which has its buds on display all winter just waiting, the pollard will have to pop out new shoots so is naturally going to 'green up' later than a tree left alone.

[rammer]

Hi guys

my neighbour had her London Plane tree pollarded 2-3 months ago. There are no signs of new growth anywhere on the tree. Its an old one, I don't know the DBH exactly but i would guess at just over a metre. I read that one shouldnt pollard mature or old trees, not sure whether thats nonsense or not. Any help or ideas? I fear the poor old thing may have suffered a lot!

 

I pollarded a LP 2 or so years ago,after looking at it a couple of months after the job i had similar concerns,but it ended up looking really well..Shame an electrical goods wagon smashed into it and i got the call to remove the tree from the highway:thumbup1:

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Given the species involved, i.e. London Plane (generally a very 'vigorous' species) then undoubtedly it will tolerate much 'heavier' pruning than BS3998:2010 generally recommends....however!

 

As something of a stickler for terminology, not least when it presents an opportunity to educate the public (as 'tree owners') on good and bad, sorry 'not so good', practice, I wondered whether it was tecnically correct to refer to this work as 'pollarding'?

 

Sematics maybe but perhaps 'lopping', which, using the BS definition for 'topping' I would describe as "removal of most or all of the crown of a mature tree by indiscriminately cutting through the main branches/limbs" (perhaps that highlights another terminology discrepancy), would have been a more accurate term?

 

Essentially the parameters cited in the standard refer to 50-200mm stem dia. at 2-3m in hieght, then pollarrding can be initiated. Then the standard continues..."Larger trees should not normaly be treated in this way."

 

My overding point here, besides that of avoiding whereever possible 'lopping' mature specimen trees, is one of educating the public that 'lopping' is not pollarding. That is not to say it might not be appropriate to 'lop' under certain circumsatnces but say this and expalin the differnece.

 

There, 'soap-box' removed...PHEW did I hear you say?, ha!

 

Cheers..

Paul

[ben lightfoot]

but what about mature trees that have already undergone the pollarding process then that cant be classed as topping? Although as you have said it mentions stem diameter so i guess you would pollard before the new growth got to that size? i need to get me the new bs 3998

[tresrgr8]

but what about mature trees that have already undergone the pollarding process then that cant be classed as topping? Although as you have said it mentions stem diameter so i guess you would pollard before the new growth got to that size? i need to get me the new bs 3998

 

pop over ben and you can take a look at mine:thumbup:

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

but what about mature trees that have already undergone the pollarding process then that cant be classed as topping? Although as you have said it mentions stem diameter so i guess you would pollard before the new growth got to that size? i need to get me the new bs 3998

 

Yup, that's different I would suggest.

 

Where a mature tree has alreday been' lopped', or it's lapsed pollard, then I consider it appropriate to use the term 'pollard' or repollard' as appropriate.

 

Cheers..

Paul