Potential ANCIENT tree removal

[Ross Smith]

What type of picture are you looking for sorry

[JonnyVine]

"I never heard that term applied to a tree before and couldn't find it in any of my books from across the water either."

 

what else does one call those areas?

 

"I completely agree that discolouration is not tantamount to decay, or even incipient decay, but, the hardness mentioned earlier is equaly not tantamount to tree strength"

 

are you sure

 

" and in most cases can be a weakness as it makes the wood too stiff and brittle."

 

what is your reference for 'most'? that wood does not look embrittled.

 

"Unfortunately, I am viewing the pictures from an iphone,"

 

handy tool.

 

" however, I can still see vast quantities of dysfunctional wood," how much is discouloration I am not going to guess"

 

isn't "dysfunctional" a guess? And isn't 'vast' therefore an exaggeration based on a guess? And why do you not notice or mention anything positive about the tree? Assessment should be unbiased.

 

' and as far as residual wall is concerned, I was looking to the right of the trunk where it is much thinner and appears to be none existent in some places!"

 

that is the definition of an open cavity, which is too common to get alarmed about. From Diagnosis and Prognosis of Wood Decay in Urban Trees: “In the past there has been an increasing tendency to simplify complex concepts in tree risk assessment. The danger is that with any simplification, a certain degree of inaccuracy has to be taken into account... it, will probably err on the side of caution. … Any arborist who undertakes tree risk assessment should have a profound knowledge of not only the procedures and diagnostic techniques, but first and foremost of host-fungus associations.”

 

 

 

Not I, said the little red hen! not without adequate info anyway...

 

My opinions (like most I suspect) are based on experience of witnessing and looking at a significant number of tree failures--and successes!-- over 40 or so years.

But it should be acknowledged that a large volume of my work is in retaining trees in the urban environment for the benefit of private owners who value them. Avoiding oversimplification, exaggeration and hasty judgments is a key part of that effort.

 

Dysfunctional is not a guess because I can see it.

 

Vast is not an exaggeration because I can also see there is lots of it.

 

I believe that hardness in wood is a disadvantage from my own core/fractometer records over the last 6 years, also, works by Dr C Mattheck show similar results.

 

I think you are spot on that tree inspectors need vast knowledge and experience and also an in depth knowledge of tree/fungi relationships ( in this instance it was one of the worst, K. Deusta)

 

I also believe that CPDs are the most important aspect of our work and being part of a forum where we have to quantify what we write is beneficial to the purpose.

 

Kind regards

Jonny

[JonnyVine]

What type of picture are you looking for sorry

 

One that shows how much ot the outer shell of wood was still alive, the very bottom/last cut Ross

[Ross Smith]

This was the last cut

.

[treeseer]

Good pics thanks. I'm guessing the tan wood-toward the driveway and the most root disturbance-is potentially embrittled, in comparison to the red wood.

 

jonny, all's good; quantifying is a good goal yes. I see a lot of healthy holding wood; my glass is half full? round 90%+ of the way. The line inside the healthy sapwood seems sharply drawn. Who can say how long that codit line has been there, and how long it will hold (especially given proper root care)?

 

All heartwood is less functional. It is also less needed by the tree.

Not sure what dysfunctional means, in relation to heartwood. is it the same as nonfunctional?

Edited January 9, 2013 by treeseer

[JonnyVine]

Ross, bang on!

 

 

As Treeser has allready said wall 4 looks quite strong, and plenty transportational material, not 360 degrees and not quite33% thickness to radius but what is left looks very healthy.

 

Treeser, like David said, we all suffer different experiences and it is these experiences that mould our opinion, I don't mind having my post torn appart by people that have genuine knowledge and experience, I call this "healthy debate" as it makes me think

(and sometimes wake up)!

 

 

Dysfunction; The loss of physiological function, especially in water conducting tissue So the cambium to the right of the photo could be described as dysfunctional

 

Ps, there is a diametrical crack that starts at about 2 o'clock and dissapears under Ross's feet, not too sure how I would calculate that into the criteria?

 

Keep it comming, all good stuff

Jonny

[RobArb]

Not sure which thread i've put this in before, but it goes here now...

 

Tree is coming out, going to ask if i can leave as a large habitat pole:biggrin:

 

Shame really, its easily 20-25m and will create a big hole when its gone

[john p]

yep , be hell of a hole with it gone