Disease help required

[likeitorlumpit]

The grass doesn't seem burnt or anything so what is the evidence for glyphosate or even diesel?

[Fungus]

we have had similar damage at uni; larger trees survived, suppose because they had larger food reserves in their root system? I have seen bridge grafting used to save valuable trees in the past, this can work well to allow food to be transfered across the damaged section of trunk but can look unsightly...depends on how much the owner wants to retain the tree???

 

Depending on the Acer species and the age of the tree, "middle aged" Acer pseudoplatanus f.i. is very well capable of overgrowing completely ringed zones. In The Netherlands, dune forest managers tried to eliminate the dominance of sycamore by completely ringing the bark of the trunks twice at two levels 30 cm apart, but the trees succeeded in overgrowing the wounds with callus within 3-5 years. I've seen the same phenomenon with ashes, of which the bark over a length of 20-30 cm was scraped off by cows' teeth.

[PhilBeech]

Depending on the Acer species and the age of the tree, "middle aged" Acer pseudoplatanus f.i. is very well capable of overgrowing completely ringed zones. In The Netherlands, dune forest managers tried to eliminate the dominance of sycamore by completely ringing the bark of the trunks twice at two levels 30 cm apart, but the trees succeeded in overgrowing the wounds with callus within 3-5 years. I've seen the same phenomenon with ashes, of which the bark over a length of 20-30 cm was scraped off by cows' teeth.

 

Agreed, there is no reason whatsoever to fell that tree at this stage. Prescribe a annual monitoring scheme.

 

If you see the crowns of the trees to start looking abnormal, small leaves, minor dead wood or a thinning of the crown then maybe get a member from here to take a look for you. I would imagine these trees provide important amenity value to the site, it would be a shame to lose them prematurely.

 

In terms of the vandalism, if it is pupils from your school, would it not be possible for the head teacher to put the fear of god into them at a mornings assembly? You could even consider a physical barrier such as a fence to protect the trees and make that 'out of bounds'.

 

Best of luck!

[Nimby]

I agree completely here with the leave the tree and monitor the health. Do not even think about felling this until it is dead, it probably wont die of ring barking anyway.

 

Mike A, as a School grounds manager, do you have any qualifications in Arboriculture?

[Mike A]

Hello all

 

Regards all things diesel... call it a dim witted groundsman who was based at that site (prep school) as a sole groundsman. It wouldn't be right of me to go into too much detail on a public forum, but I will say that it was carried out last September (the grass shown signs of burning then), and I suspect it was diesel, because he also applied this to the weeds and footpaths around the site - we knew this by the staining all over the place, and the accident that ensued when a resident motorcyclist had a fall... disciplinary procedures had to be enforced, unfortunately.

 

Re qualification in tree care - none at present. I am fairly new to the role of grounds manager (though I have been a groundsman/greenkeeper for about 12 years now), and am currently working through the level 3 diploma in sportsturf. Next year, I am due on a tree surveying course, as well as cs 30/31 - we are also training one of our assistant groundsmen in this area as he has a keen interest in arboriculture. I am also looking into registering for membership with one of the relevant arboricultural bodies, to try to fast track our development in this area.

 

We do have approx 500 trees across both sites (all due to be identified and logged on a database this year), which have been very badly neglected over the years - they really are in a poor state. We removed 12 last winter, and one very large elm came down a few weeks back, falling on a run of garages, causing pretty extensive damage (will see if I can post some pics)

 

Re kids - this was not our students - our terms finished a fortnight ago - the damage was caused over this weekend just gone.

 

Mike

[Mike A]

Pics of the last one to come down:

[Mike A]

another...

[Mike A]

and another...

[Mike A]

and again

[Mike A]

one more

Edited July 12, 2011 by Mike A