climbing heartwood decay fungi trees

[conkers]

You can usually get a good idea with one bore cut,ie colour of sawdust or goes through[ if you don't have a core sampler].

It is a judgement call but avoid snatching or rigging at all and get the weight off asap but not so as the trees weight is really badly altered part way through process.

If it is very poor and it has to be dismantled and no access for crane etc you have to tell the customer it is a case of damage limitation and the climber has to decide on the limitation!! IMO

[Matt McAulay]

had something like that at a small animal adventure park climbing a diseased ash the core was just dust. Just closed my eyes thought - im over water and up i went.

Edited November 14, 2008 by Amelanchier
language

[Will Hinchliffe]

Most of the loading and is on the outside of the trunk. The assessment of the trunks strength should be based on the ratio of the Trunk radius to the residual wall thickness. Other morphological characteristics should be taken into account as well. Generally the presence of a heart rot fungi will not stop you from climbing a tree.

[Dean Lofthouse]

just wondered what the views are on climbers assessing a tree that has a heartwood decaying fungus and how they assess whether the tree is safe to climb,had 1 today

 

Wait till we have a really windy gale force day then if the tree is still standing after that it's safe to climb

[silvafox]

I dismantled a sycamore last week that had just a 'small' amount of Ustulina (Kretzshmaria) deusta at the base. I had to do some basic rigging but tried to free fall as much as poss. On felling the butt, the evident decay and brittle character of the timber was quite extreme and just 5-10% of outer wood and cambium was unaffected. The top, typically, showed no symptons of ill health at all.

I figured that recent high winds would have exerted more stress than I would by going gentle on it.

[skyhuck]

I did a very large Beech once, that the local dimwits had been using as a fire place, it was burnt at least 85% of the way through!. There was a crescent of timber about a third of the way round that was 6"to 8" thick at the thickest point and tapered to nothing at each side and the thick bit had a crack that you could see though!

 

The stem would had been 40" or so if it had not been burnt.

 

I could not fell it, there was no were to put the cut!

 

I was a little concerned about climbing it as it had a big round crown so the weight would have really shifted.

 

So I threw a 3/4" rope over one of the big limbs and gave it a tug with the mog.......solid as a rock.

 

So I climbed it and crashed the top out, we filed my timber trailer twice with just the top.

 

Trees are very, very strong!!

[Mick Stockbridge]

I,ll never forget the day I was sent out with another climber to clear a windblown chestnut that had snagged in another tree which had very little top and covered in ivy. He asked me what I would do, I told him I would put a saw in the near dead tree and run like Billy o. "I love a challenge" he said and went up. I had my back to him while sawing when I heard an almighty crash, turned to see both tree,s on the deck and one very shaken mate.

[Lee Winger]

Limb de-lamination is more of a concern than internal decay..........

[Ross Smith]

Limb de-lamination is more of a concern than internal decay..........

define limb de lamination plz

[bill]

i took one down today parts of the stem were like wet sponge. nice