Robinia vs. Laetiporus Part 1

[Tom Joye]

Hi all,

some pics from a tree I worked on this weekend. It is a 90 year old Robinia that is split all the way down. The stem is hollow, Laetiporus sulfureus all over the place (bad combination, those two). Some years ago a Cobra system was installed (not by me) and recently I noticed the two halves were moving apart, so now the cobra system is holding the tree together. Since the owner does not want to fell the tree, I will reduce it (will do it i February and will post pictures later). This weekend I installed a steel cable around the stem, to take the stress off the cobra.

Any experiences with this? How long do you think the tree can go on like this?

[John Hancock]

Its 90 years old, its had a good life.... fell and replace.

[Tom Joye]

felling is not an option, te owner is very emotional about his tree, wouldn't even dare to mention that

[Graham]

felling is not an option, te owner is very emotional about his tree, wouldn't even dare to mention that

 

Time to resurrect the old rod bracing! I'd walk away if he's not open to good advice ie fell. Does that road pass right by the tree?

[Tom Joye]

Time to resurrect the old rod bracing! I'd walk away if he's not open to good advice ie fell. Does that road pass right by the tree?

 

Yep, the road passes right underneath the tree. Not that much traffic though.

 

Just want to point out that I'm not a fan of rod bracing and the whole steel cable thing, but really: felling is not an option! So a strong reduction will have to do.

[skyhuck]

 

felling is not an option!

 

Is that what they are going to tell the Judge! If some one gets hurt or worse ?

 

If that fails now YOU may find YOUR in court, as they have employed YOU to make it safe.

 

If they won't see sense walk away and ring highways or the local council

[treequip]

If that fails now YOU may find YOUR in court, as they have employed YOU to make it safe.

 

That’s a bit of a dire prediction and it need not be thus. Clients seldom engage contractors with a brief to “Make the tree safe” they usually have a course of action in mind but are open to advice.

 

I do think you would want to get the recommendation to fell on record. If the client then goes for a lesser works you can add caveats to the quote and or invoice.

 

Andy

[Tom Joye]

Hé guys,

 

thanks for worrying about me, but I'm in Belgium and not in the UK. Over here legislation on trees is crap. We don't have a law that specifies that I would be responsible in case of an accident, in fact we nearly have no laws on trees at all. Over here you don't need any 'tickets' to juggle chainsaws, climb trees or whatever. If my grandmother shouts out she's an arborist, well... she IS an arborist in Belgium. I think it's crap, but that the way it is and we are sure working on those issues.

 

In the meantime, if this client comes to me to 'save' his tree, I try to help him as good as I can, by making it as safe as possible in the given circumstances instead of getting him to listen to a nitwit that thinks he knows a lot about trees but who is actually a gardener or a landscaping architect (with all do respect for gardeners or landscaping architects, but they got to stick to their jobs). I assess this tree every 6 months or so, so I'll keep an eye on it. And in the meantime, it might fall. But so does the healthy oak tree just next to it.

[Tom Joye]

Reduced the Robinia a couple of weeks ago and promised to post pics here. It was a strong reduction, I'm eager to see how the tree will respond. The abundance of new sprouts in the lower crown gave me a good feeling about it. We'll see...

 

Installed a new cobra bracing between the two main stems after the pics were taken. And the steel cable around the stem is still there. The plan is to reduce it further down in a couple of years i(f the tree responds well).

 

Any feedback is welcome.

[atree]

Hé guys,

 

thanks for worrying about me, but I'm in Belgium and not in the UK. Over here legislation on trees is crap. We don't have a law that specifies that I would be responsible in case of an accident, in fact we nearly have no laws on trees at all. Over here you don't need any 'tickets' to juggle chainsaws, climb trees or whatever. If my grandmother shouts out she's an arborist, well... she IS an arborist in Belgium. I think it's crap, but that the way it is and we are sure working on those issues.

 

In the meantime, if this client comes to me to 'save' his tree, I try to help him as good as I can, by making it as safe as possible in the given circumstances instead of getting him to listen to a nitwit that thinks he knows a lot about trees but who is actually a gardener or a landscaping architect (with all do respect for gardeners or landscaping architects, but they got to stick to their jobs). I assess this tree every 6 months or so, so I'll keep an eye on it. And in the meantime, it might fall. But so does the healthy oak tree just next to it.

 

sounds just like nz