Large urban tree failure

[Tom D]

Was it windy? The wind sail of a tree like that would be minimal since it had virtually no leaves on it! It must have been properly rotten to fail, sheltered location too.

 

I don't understand why councils down south pollard trees like this, every topped pop I have ever felled, and thats quite a few, have been seriously rotten. They just can't take it. IMO the fault lies firmly with the LA who sanctioned the repeated topping.

[Rich Rule]

Tom, are you sure the topping causes the problems?

 

IME trees of this species only have a shelf life of around 70 odd years. Once it gets to a size and considerable deadwood and dieback, then it is topped.

 

That tree could have been knackered well before the topparding cycle begun.

 

So you could say the diagnosing and recommendation of works gave the tree a few extra years. But at what cost? Well they found out the other day and it could have been a heck of a lot worse.

[Tom D]

I have seen pops that have been topped aged 20-30, they are still knackered. Especially lombardys. I have also seen massive un molested ones that will be well past 100 with no rot problems. Removing a massive amount of leaf area in one go is bound to cause problems. If you did pruning like that in any of the edinburgh Conservation areas the council would not be happy. It just seems to be a london / SE thing.

[David Humphries]

Tom

 

Large trees like this Pop, (although a poor choice for its location IMO) play a major roll in reducing the heat island effect in central concrete jungles like this location.

 

The shade they collectively cast, reduces local ambient temperatures by considerable degrees.

 

European studies have shown that these shade trees actually do reduce fatalities (of old people and babies particularly) during prolonged heat waves and also energy use by the reduction in use of fans and air condition units.

 

They are a necessary part of the urban landscape from a health point of view.

Small (replacement) trees don't provide anywhere near enough shade.

 

Managing this need for shade is just part of a local authorities juggling act when it comes to strategic budget spend in relation to trees.

 

 

.

[Paul Barton]

Tom

 

Large trees like this Pop, (although a poor choice for its location IMO) play a major roll in reducing the heat island effect in central concrete jungles like this location.

 

The shade they collectively cast, reduces local ambient temperatures by considerable degrees.

 

European studies have shown that these shade trees actually do reduce fatalities (of old people and babies particularly) during prolonged heat waves and also energy use by the reduction in use of fans and air condition units.

 

They are a necessary part of the urban landscape from a health point of view.

Small (replacement) trees don't provide anywhere near enough shade.

 

Managing this need for shade is just part of a local authorities juggling act when it comes to strategic budget spend in relation to trees.

 

 

.

 

Not to mention the additional benefits of water attenuation in the increasingly non-porous urban jungle.

 

As Sloth said, unless there were particular indicators that would raise suspicion of a defect then you wouldn't necessarily recommend a removal.

 

I don't envy surveyors of these large trees in such densely populated areas - I bet they are still required to get a large quota of trees inspected each day (100+?) because of the low £ value placed on this type of work. Even worse if it's sub-contracted out on a low per tree rate. Such large trees in these areas deserve more than 3 minutes of inspection every few years.

[treequip]

 

Large trees like this Pop, (although a poor choice for its location IMO) play a major roll in reducing the heat island effect in central concrete jungles like this location.

 

 

It's last effort certainly did its bit for emissions on those cars.

 

Boris will be well up for big Poplars

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

going on Davids new images that tree was in "obvious" trouble with the wall etc constricting root development and optomisation

[Tom D]

Tom

 

Large trees like this Pop, (although a poor choice for its location IMO) play a major roll in reducing the heat island effect in central concrete jungles like this location.

 

The shade they collectively cast, reduces local ambient temperatures by considerable degrees.

 

European studies have shown that these shade trees actually do reduce fatalities (of old people and babies particularly) during prolonged heat waves and also energy use by the reduction in use of fans and air condition units.

 

They are a necessary part of the urban landscape from a health point of view.

Small (replacement) trees don't provide anywhere near enough shade.

 

Managing this need for shade is just part of a local authorities juggling act when it comes to strategic budget spend in relation to trees.

 

 

.

 

I don't disagree David, poplars are great urban trees, but why hack the life out of it? That tree has grown a healthy crown, then had it completely removed, then desperately tried to replace the lost leaf area only to have it periodically removed. Some trees can cope with that. I just don't think poplars can.

 

It would be interesting to see some picus's of some of your urban pollarded pops if you have any. I'll bet you cant find a sound one..

[David Humphries]

It would be interesting to see some picus's of some of your urban pollarded pops if you have any. I'll bet you cant find a sound one..

 

That's probably a given.

(we don't use picus though)

 

Ganoderma, Fomes & Perenniporia found in a significant number of our pops.

 

 

There's a fair bit of talk over at Uktc about carrying out pull tests with trees like the failed one in urban situations.

 

This is something we are considering at work.

 

How cost effective and practical that is, I'm not really sure.

 

.

[Riggerbear]

It looks like the tree was located in a sort of raised bed area. I wonder if the soil profile has been raised over the life of the tree with that wall being built. If so, any inspection of the root collar would of been difficult.