Ganoderma on Beech

[benedmonds]

Anyone in the East midlands with a resistorgraph?

 

If so PM/email me with prices.. Cheers

 

[email protected]

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Anyone in the East midlands with a resistorgraph?

 

If so PM/email me with prices.. Cheers

 

[email protected]

 

symbiosis consulting

 

http://www.symbiosis.gb.com/

[treeseer]

re the failed tree, apples and oranges. that one had massive dysfunction on the side of the trunk that gave out. mallet and probe/shovel/trowel could have quantified that root loss in minutes.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

re the failed tree, apples and oranges. that one had massive dysfunction on the side of the trunk that gave out. mallet and probe/shovel/trowel could have quantified that root loss in minutes.

 

We have had high winds in the U.k recently too, last thursday in particular, even healthy trees go down in that kind of weather.

 

lots of trees down last few weeks round here

[AndyElliott]

My suggestion would be to stop and take a step away from the tree with any saws and drills for a moment. Firstly you need to quantify the problem – what’s the condition of the tree internally and therefore what’s the probability of failure. Without knowing this how can anyone recommend remedial work (crown reduction etc), what are they remedying?

 

The suggestion of a Picus based inspection is a reasonable one. For me I would avoid using a Resistograph unless I really needed to (and I have one). If you consider the not uncommon situation whereby a mature Beech with a limited (compartmentalised, contained, or with slow progression) infection by a Ganoderma spp organism, is subjected to crown reduction that further wounds, reduces energy resources, and changes its physiological and structural balance with the potential to reduce any growth/energy expenditure strategies it may have in use to limit decay; couple this with a well-meaning drill being used to break through any existing defensive walls the tree may have already formed, and the potential for the intervention to be negative is obvious.

 

It may be that following accurate assessment of the trees condition no work is needed; it may on the other hand need remedial works – pruning or felling due to location and target potential… but the first step should be accurately knowing the condition and with a minimal damage as possible.

 

For what its worth that would be my take.

[treeseer]

"We have had high winds in the U.k recently too, last thursday in particular, even healthy trees go down in that kind of weather."

 

Tony that may be true, but it's entirely beside the point. That tree appears most unhealthy, so you are comparing rotten grapefruit to tangerines.

 

Good suggestion to stop and take a step away from the tree with any saws and drills for a moment. Firstly you need to quantify the problem, but if you lack a tomograph that is difficult. Even with one it can be a lot of guessing involved. Knowing the condition of the tree internally is only one part of the issue--gotta assess roots, and also calculate load as well to know the probability of failure.

 

If overdone, crown reduction wounds, reduces energy resources, and changes its physiological and structural balance with the potential to reduce any growth/energy expenditure strategies it may have in use to limit decay. But it's not clear that IMPROVING structure via light pruning of a tree with a full crown affects total photosynthesis at all. That sounds more like a myth every time I hear it, a theory full of holes.

 

At any case the reduction in load would seem to be worth any temporary reduction in food-making. The ideal that no action be taken to reduce load after finding a gano conk in a schoolyard seems less than prudent, practically and politically.

 

Totally agree with a well-meaning drill being used to break through any existing defensive walls the tree may have already formed, and the potential for the intervention to be negative is obvious. Sounding and probing alone might gain a lot of info.

[davyjones]

Whilst the tree is in a playground, some sort of attempt should perhaps be made to quantify the usage of the potential target zone before spending hundreds on invasive investigations or pruning works. This also goes for the pic of the failed tree added later. Whilst it may have failed across the road if it 'went the other way', the fact is that it didn't, and is the road a busy A road or a 'three men and a dog' sort of rural lane (in which case so what? - Councils rightly won't expend scanty resources on inspecting trees beside low category roads).

 

Approximately how many people use the target area for how long each day? Is it 7 days a week, one day a week? (etc.) Do the children still use the playground in wet and windy conditions or at night? If the 'target-value' is pretty low well then it may be sufficient to discharge the duty of care with the visual inspection and a trusty mallet. And then of course the value of the tree to the play environment should also be considered at some point.

 

It's understandable that people get even more twitchy as soon as children are involved but when you break it down to brass tax, children aren't 'worth' more than adults are (in crass insurance terms), they are often less 'risk-aware', however and rely on adults to manage their environments for them.

 

Unfortunately, in my experience of such scenarios, as soon as one starts talking about costly further investigations to school managers or highways engineers, you will just as often be reaching for the 088 as the tomograph!

[benedmonds]

I am interested that people are recommending Picus. I admit to never having used one but thought that in this root/butt rot scenario your not going to get clear results.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I am interested that people are recommending Picus. I admit to never having used one but thought that in this root/butt rot scenario your not going to get clear results.

 

im gonna leave these boys to it but your about right in this quote, but all decay assessment tools have their weaknesses.

 

and at the end of the day whatever tool is used when the final assessment confirmation is made before the fell call a increment core is/should be taken to confirm findings and or evaluate residual wood strength and decay type via a fractometer.

 

Ganodermas for example have selective delignification which is not as much a worry as say kretzschmaria on a tension root (soft rot)

[arbogrunt]

look at this beauty!..also in a Beech in a council owned park