Large Beech Failure

[born2trot]

Definitely ... leave the old girl in peace if possible

[sloth]

In the 5th pic is the soil crack due to rootplate movement or impact from the failed branch?

What are the targets if it topples?

[Grass hopper]

Its down to the tree falling over , the branch is holding it back , been keeping my eye on it , the fall zone is a clear area.

[Ben Ballard]

Blimey missed the crack in pic 5 are you saying it appeared after the failed limb due to the shift in balance and decay or is the big lower limb acting as a prop and that why it still up

[Grass hopper]

That limb on the ground is holding the tree for now ( i think about 2 ton of it ) , just waitting to be told to cut it away and let the tree fall or spend the money and cut form a cherry picker . I would love to take it down to about 20ft and leave it and take the branch off on the right hand side just above the ground its go alot of weight in it.

[born2trot]

Latest update .. back this morning and think i'm homing in on the culprit . Found these fruiting bodies on an adjacent huge dead beech which i think is Merip.

I'm concerned now for a large lime close by and a chestnut both showing crown die back .

 

 

 

 

 

[ScottF]

Here are some shots of the sycamore which was riddled with Kd and was heavily spalted up the stem to ca. 8 metres. The tree was standing with very abbreviated foliage (the classic "broccoli top" look) and loads of deadwood. The crown was beginning to collapse when I politely asked the caretakers of the office I rent to drop it. Most of the crown except for the main stem shattered like porcelain when it hit the deck.

 

The roots were pretty well hollowed out directly beneath the stem and there appeared to be movement on one side of the plate, which correlated to where the caretakers, in their wisdom had their bonfires. Two other sycamore adjacent to the scorced patch are showing the same symptoms.

[likeitorlumpit]

OK- I know this isn't specifically a Merip thread but heres a beech and I think I have to pronounce death sentence on it due to the close by targets- road and flats. Does anyone have any other suggestions.

Heres hoping the photos publish as it's the first time for me.

[ScottF]

The difficulty here is determining how extensive the decay in the roots is. You can assume by the sheer number of fruiting bodies that decay is well advanced, but I know from experience this relationship doesn't necessarily hold. A PiCUS reading wouldn't be much help, and I've had pretty mixed/inconsistent results from Resistograph readings, too.

 

Given your targets, I think you'd have some explaining to do if you retained it and it failed.

[David Humphries]

OK- I know this isn't specifically a Merip thread but heres a beech and I think I have to pronounce death sentence on it due to the close by targets- road and flats. Does anyone have any other suggestions.

 

 

 

Perhaps explore the option of having the roots airspaded to determine the extent of underside decay

 

 

 

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