Managing Trees with Decay & Dysfunction

[David Humphries]

Managing trees with donkeys and dysfunction.........

 

 

Let Se (the apprentice) carry out the canopy work after discussing the shape and the moving targets

 

 

 

Shortish Time lapse produced by wizard productions.......

 

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[sean]

Nice job and great vid:thumbup1:

[David Humphries]

Veteran sessile oak that has sat within a large construction site at work (Hampstead Heath) for the last couple of years.

 

 

It was subjected to a tear out of a large swept low limb during high winds about 5 years ago.

So it lost a fairly significant portion of its canopy which unbalanced the crown.

The trunk and major scaffold branches are heavily colonised by the brown rot decayer, Fistulina hepatica

 

 

Due to its exposed position to wind load we've had it down on our veteran tree works list for quite a while, but access to it has only recently just reopened now that the construction compound has finished.

 

Today Jack began its first phase retrenchment prune to manage the canopy balance which will be continued over the next five to ten years depending on ongoing vitality.

 

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[Mark J]

Great work. I've been reading about ancient trees as part of my FdSc. I'd read about retrentchment pruning and that it was feasable to carry out the works in one go when there was a viable crown. Thanks.

[David Humphries]

Set of Lombardy poplars next to a secondary school.

 

 

One has a known and monitored colonisation of Perenniporia fraxinea.

 

 

They've all been topped/reduced in height a couple of times over the last dozen or so years

 

Resistograph readings have shown fairly significant decay on the school side of the one with the brackets, so we've taken it down.

 

 

The remaining trees will be reduced again to limit the wind exposure on them now one of the group has gone.

Possibly going to be replace with a fastigiate oak species.

 

 

Team Leader Ali on the spikes

 

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[David Humphries]

The day before the Poplar carnage we were engaged in the other end of the spectrum by carrying out a light reduction on a old lapsed oak pollard which is colonised by Fistulina hepatica

 

 

Team leader Ali on secateur duty

 

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[David Humphries]

and a filler in job with the resistograph assessing the integrity of this American Swing.

 

 

Apprentice Se on micro drill duty

 

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[treeseer]

Is coppicing an option?

[David Humphries]

Is coppicing an option?

 

Thought we'd lost you full time to the Facebook groups Guy

 

Height reduction of the remaining three poplars to manage the increased exposure and replacing the void with another fastigiate tree (pop or oak perhaps)

 

 

 

 

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[Jake Andrews]

Veteranising a poor old Ash today. The tree has a large cavity at 8 meters that extends right through the other side of the tree and we can see daylight.

 

There are a series of further cavities up and down the stem (not as large as the one in the pic) but we suspect the tree is hollow for quite a distance. No fruiting found to be present.

 

The spec was a harsh retrenchment prune due to the (albeit low used) road below.

 

 

Jake Andrews