To fracture prune, or................

[BatiArb]

Exactly...

 

The trees on Hamstead Heath are within an area of natural beauty where the general public go to escape the formality of our artificial environments in town. Such areas are intended to be wild and allow us to keep in touch with our natural environment and therefore it is our job as arborists to maintain this appearance when we are forced to undertake essential tree pruning works when maintaining the inevitable tree risk requirements of public health and safety.

 

Pruning work in such areas should not be something that stands our in any way. The test of any tree following NFPT is that a member of the public can walk under it and thing that it had lost branches in a storm the day before and the saw dust on the ground is as a result of the cleanup operation not from tree pruning.

 

The challenge for any arborist completing the NFPT is that the end result does not require the tree to be 'balanced' or 'shaped' in any way. The tendency is to create even reductions, despite the fact that natural storm events rarely leave trees with a equally round shaped canopy.

 

We humans are a strange bunch of critters when it comes to our visual interpretation of things, and we frequently cannot help ourselves when it comes to creating something we think to be aesthetically right. Nature does not deal with aesthetics in the same way, it is far more basic than that. However, we appreciate the results because they appeal to our ‘wild’ recognition of something that represents our natural environment (where we used to live before we started artificially creating our own concrete jungles).

 

Andrew

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

i would agree entirely with the above statement no questions, the wild woods are a rare feature of our landscape these days. one only has to go on the hunt for "true neglect" to know that virgin habitat is a rare and very beautiful thing.

 

veteranisation techniques are our way of filling a major gap in the generations of wild vetwerans, whos life cycles and prosceses of decay and dysfunction are part of a diverse range of niche habitats that carry very complex communal and progressive life cycles.

 

each random act of nature provides a home for a specific form of life, and if we were to continue forcing nature to be pretty, all would be lost in a century or two more.

 

Wether you appreciate the imensley complex life of the deadwood habitat or not, fracture pruning and veteranisation is the only way to "enhance" these habitats. i do however think we need to use some discretion in the use and place of these techniques.

[paradise]

I happened to pass this tree the other day. It looked a bit hedge-trimmed to my eye, though it has to be said the non-arb I was with didn't notice anything amiss.

 

I'm all for fracture pruning but when I saw this thread I didn't see the logic of doing an even haircut all over, and seeing the tree confirmed what I thought. If you want to mimic a really natural look and the habitats of fractures then I reckon it makes more sense to do it properly and rip great lumps out with a winch. If you want to reduce the sail area then I'd just do it the normal way - and then rip a few lumps out if I fancied doing it. This combination sail area reduction and fracture pruning is not in any way 'natural', and I'm not convinced it will create great habitat because big break-outs seem better for that.

[David Humphries]

Paradise, the Tree in question is more of a control to facilitate the reduction required but also to assess the technique of using fractures over time.

 

The Trees aesthetics are not the over ridding force for this particular tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[paradise]

Yes, and I appreciate the fact that you experiment and put info up here, but I'm still not sure I see the logic here. There's still a big difference between doing lots of small fractures over the tree and doing one or two big fractures. I don't see how the former can be said to be mimicking nature, and the ecological and tree health results of it would be different from a few big fractures, no?

[Mozza]

Missed this first time round, I like that David, Ive heard of it before but never seen it used, Nice to see how the tree has reacted after the event too, Good work imo

[David Humphries]

The style of wound, is what's mimicking nature not the shape/ammount of reduction.

 

Experimentation is the key here Paradise.

 

I don't believe there is a blue print for vetranisation/destuctive technique/f p etc...

 

But I do believe, that to learn, we need to observe our actions and the subsequent reactions, over time.

That's a commodity that I have the pleasure & luxury (within certain boundaries) of having been afforded.

 

If you are local, I'd be more than happy to walk around with you and have a chat ?

 

You wouldn't be the first.

 

 

 

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[Ian Flatters]

I did some fracture pruning in whitlingham wood in norfolk. A large horse chestnut in decline, large leggy limbs signs of cracking at the main fork union. Got a massive backlash from the bird watchers and walkers saying 'id F'd up natures beauty' but 12 months later when i re-surveyed the site crack hasn't got worse and it looks much better and attract more wildlife than i noticed before. Also now the walkers and bird watchers like it and have requested a bench for viewing thier beloved birds. So im all for this kind of work.

[David Humphries]

It's been a while, so a shot from today to keep the thread live with ongoing pictorals...........

 

1st - Before works - Sep 08

2nd -After innitial works - Sep 08

3rd - Early following spring - Apr 09

4th - Early following summer - May 09

 

5th - From today - July 10

 

 

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[Stevie Mac]

I would say hats off to you for not just taking the easy option and just felling it.

I wouldn't like to comment on how the tree looks until I've seen the finished product and maybe best to comment when the tree has recovered with some new growth.

 

I personally have not yet done any fracture pruning but was thinking of trying it out on a old oak tree thats on the grounds of the property that I live at. There are a few branches that have splits and cracks on them.

Have you got any info or a good link for me to have a read up on before I attempt it?

 

Keep up the good work