Should it stay or should it go?

[Chunkymunky]

Hi chaps.

 

On a woodland craft course this week and have been asked my opinion of a beech tree. Its pretty sizeable. The original ( bear with me) trunk would have been nearly 2 feet. Recently a large bough came down ripping some if the trunk with it. Theres not a lot of branches on the side that came down now but on the other is one sizeable one. Its about 50ft tall i should say.

 

 

The wood is owned by a collective and they wanted to know what the options are. Its not near a road but quite near one of the main routes through the woods. They wanted to keep it if possible as theres only 1 other beech in the wood.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

Thanks

[Stubby]

Do you think it is out of balance in a dangerous way and was it rot / included bark that made the limb come away ?

[Gary Prentice]

Could the path be re-sited? If the failure was simply due to a weak union, with no decay evident, it should be possible to retain. Maybe with some sympathetic canopy reduction if its particularly exposed. There looks to be a fair amount of supporting timber in the trunk, from what I can see in the pics. ( but I am viewing on my phone )

[Paul Barton]

If the main failure has already happened and you can't see more structural problems it should be ok to stay. It looks like it's in a sheltered spot amongst other trees?

[Chunkymunky]

The path is about 40ft away. There was a bit of included bark above what went. I thought if they lost the large branch on the opposite side it might balance it out. Reduce the stress.

[Chunkymunky]

If the main failure has already happened and you can't see more structural problems it should be ok to stay. It looks like it's in a sheltered spot amongst other trees?

 

Yes it is. Its in the middle of the woods. Near fromes hill on hereford worcester road if anyone knows where that is

[agg221]

Thought you might find this thread relevant:

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-health-care/27232-reduce-fire-wood-what-would-you-do.html

 

Alec

[arbogrunt]

if it was near a path that couldn't be re-routed, I'd drop it...bat inspection notwithstanding!

[Stubby]

The path is about 40ft away. There was a bit of included bark above what went. I thought if they lost the large branch on the opposite side it might balance it out. Reduce the stress.

 

Thats what I was getting at . If you can balance it out my be safe to retain .

[Chunkymunky]

Ok. I'll suggest that as an initial option.

 

There's still plenty left and in good condition apart from the rip. hoping to do some woodturning out of what has fallen

[Pommie]

The question is how often is the path used by how many, my initial thought is to leave it as it is. What is the likelihood of it failing and hitting someone ?