Large Oak reduction help

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

So we need to adress structural integrity, the drop crotch method will be the way forward, if the limbs are decayed anyway it wont do any harm.

 

As Paul said rhizosphere work is the ultimate answer to this in the long term, but structural faults must be dealt with and sounds like it is retrenching/dying back anyway so nothing the tree is not prepared for anyway biologicaly speaking.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

and regards soil treatments inoculum for example, it will serve NO purpose at all if the soil work is not done prior to the introduction, and if the soil work is done then nature will take over the inoculation issue anyway, though if species specific inoculates locally sourced it is to be approved and recommendatory. No commercial products needed just find some locally and use it.

[Taupotreeman]

Tony, can you give me some more info on inoculation please? The area around the tree is severely compacted due to years of foot and mower traffic. I'll take some more photos today of the internal structure of the tree and the decay and get them loaded tonight.

[John Shutler]

Tony, can you give me some more info on inoculation please? The area around the tree is severely compacted due to years of foot and mower traffic. I'll take some more photos today of the internal structure of the tree and the decay and get them loaded tonight.

 

the introduction of mychorizol fungi, put simply get some organic matter from around the root plate of another (more healthy) red oak and spread it around

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Tony, can you give me some more info on inoculation please? The area around the tree is severely compacted due to years of foot and mower traffic. I'll take some more photos today of the internal structure of the tree and the decay and get them loaded tonight.

 

if the thread gets a bump so I am reminded its here tommorow I will dig out some reference material and go through some stuff for you. bit late now so have to do it tommorow.

[Mark Bolam]

$3400 NZ.

 

You can keep the wood.

[Mark Bolam]

Those are some long levers there, Crown reduction and re brace. Re inspect bracing in 12months or after an event. As for the amount of reduction without seeing the tree I cant specify.

 

Or take out the existing bracing ,close of the area and let nature do its thing and give a home to some more bugs etc.

 

As for the councillor send him/her some press clippings of fatal tree failures, a vote looser this they WILL understand

 

On a more serious note I favour Pommies approach, but I'm pretty sure this would be a no-go given the location?

 

Tone, there don't seem to be enough decent crotches to drop into on those internal limbs?

[atree]

$3400 NZ.

 

You can keep the wood.

 

And a couple nice loads of Chip

[Taupotreeman]

Thanks for all the info so far. Huge help.Difficult to get decent soil from another site. The Taupo area has a huge pumice pan a couple of meters under the surface that a lot of tree roots can't or won't penetrate. This leads to having most of the roots heading out across the surface. Coupled with the fact that the trees are in high foot traffic areas there is a lot of compaction around the base so any form of soil extraction would be almost impossible due to the tight knitting of the roots.

 

I took a whole heap of pictures today of the internal structure of the tree. Hopefully the photos will show what we have to work with. It looks like the tree has been heavily thinned and lifted at some stage so there is little growth except on the outer reaches of the leaders.

 

With regard to removing the bracing; I have every fear that if we did this the multiple stems would fail almost immediately. I believe that the only thing currently holding the tree together is the bracing. Put it this way, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near it when the bracing was released.

 

Mark, you're hoping at that price mate. I'd do it for half that if I got all the wood out of it. There's bugger all chipping in it as it's almost all firewood except for the last 3 to 4m. You might have to readjust your pricing. Or does that price take in to account airfares?

 

Tony, if we could get some organic material from around another suitable Oak, I'm presuming this would be OK to go under some well rotted mulch? Maybe with some slow release fertiliser? Taking into account what I said about the pumice pan and the soil compaction I'd imagine the nutrient value of the soil around the area is pretty poor.

[Mark Bolam]

Thanks for all the info so far. Huge help.Difficult to get decent soil from another site. The Taupo area has a huge pumice pan a couple of meters under the surface that a lot of tree roots can't or won't penetrate. This leads to having most of the roots heading out across the surface. Coupled with the fact that the trees are in high foot traffic areas there is a lot of compaction around the base so any form of soil extraction would be almost impossible due to the tight knitting of the roots.

 

I took a whole heap of pictures today of the internal structure of the tree. Hopefully the photos will show what we have to work with. It looks like the tree has been heavily thinned and lifted at some stage so there is little growth except on the outer reaches of the leaders.

 

With regard to removing the bracing; I have every fear that if we did this the multiple stems would fail almost immediately. I believe that the only thing currently holding the tree together is the bracing. Put it this way, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near it when the bracing was released.

 

Mark, you're hoping at that price mate. I'd do it for half that if I got all the wood out of it. There's bugger all chipping in it as it's almost all firewood except for the last 3 to 4m. You might have to readjust your pricing. Or does that price take in to account airfares?

 

Tony, if we could get some organic material from around another suitable Oak, I'm presuming this would be OK to go under some well rotted mulch? Maybe with some slow release fertiliser? Taking into account what I said about the pumice pan and the soil compaction I'd imagine the nutrient value of the soil around the area is pretty poor.

 

You drive a hard bargain Ian.

I'll fly economy then....

 

Is a decent heavy standard replant in the vicinity possible?

I think we all know that all we can hope to do is buy the old girl a bit of time, so it would be nice not to plant a 6' whip in her place when the time comes.

 

After (or if?) any rootzone help measures are put in place, would any kind of boardwalk be feasible to lessen compaction, presuming the tree can't be cordoned off?