Fungi id and possible prognosis please

[daltontrees]

Opinions will always vary, dont fret about having one that does not match somone elses, nor upsetting senior members who wont get upset.

 

as a qualified assessor you should know that well enough, opinions often vary widely.

 

But it is VERY easy to drop the fell option, the real skills are in knowing when that is overkill

 

I slightly disagree, I think the real skill is one step further on - enabling a client to make an informed decision. I have advised cleits int eh past that the tree is, for want of another way of putting it here, probably OK and they then ask for it to be taken down anyway because they are risk averse, and other clients I have advised that a tree is pretty dangerous and has no future and they have asked for it to be retained albeit with a bit of reduction or bracing. It's their tree, if you are a tree surgeon not being paid for advice, the client might be willing to take your advice to fell at face value and you get the paid work. That's a different skill entirely (salesmanship) from objective advice. I think talking them into expensive risk mitigation work is the same. There's no such thing as right or wrong (black or white) for trees, it is always always a matter of what is right for that client at that time for that tree at that stage of its life.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I slightly disagree, I think the real skill is one step further on - enabling a client to make an informed decision. I have advised cleits int eh past that the tree is, for want of another way of putting it here, probably OK and they then ask for it to be taken down anyway because they are risk averse, and other clients I have advised that a tree is pretty dangerous and has no future and they have asked for it to be retained albeit with a bit of reduction or bracing. It's their tree, if you are a tree surgeon not being paid for advice, the client might be willing to take your advice to fell at face value and you get the paid work. That's a different skill entirely (salesmanship) from objective advice. I think talking them into expensive risk mitigation work is the same. There's no such thing as right or wrong (black or white) for trees, it is always always a matter of what is right for that client at that time for that tree at that stage of its life.

 

I suspect you disagree because you are reading into it too much, nothing i said would cause a problem with any of the above, information is ALL we can provide here, enabling the OP to make an informed choice based on the varied positions/information.

 

Although it does not work this way for 99% the attitude should always be that felling is the last resort, not the first. Only after all the facts are in (and they are not) should one give in to the easy options.

[Arbtech Tree Services]

Thankyou everyone for your continued input, i'm now back in the world of the internet!

 

The photos were just a quick couple of snaps as we were clearing up from some other work at the end of the day. I shall speak to the client tomorrow about returning to strip the ivy and clear around the base to get a better picture of what is going on.

 

I know he is against losing any of these trees, so a discussion on what to do with this one needs to be had. In a failure scenario a prevailing wind would take it over the public highway. It would be very easy to say 'well it's a beech so it won't like a heavy reduction, so what would you prefer, monolith or ground zero?'

 

As has been mentioned already there is too little in the photos so a proper investigation is required.

 

Regards,

 

Steve.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Dont take "too" much notice of beech not handling reductions, its not what youdo but how you do it that counts:biggrin:

 

[Jesse]

Thankyou everyone for your continued input, i'm now back in the world of the internet!

 

The photos were just a quick couple of snaps as we were clearing up from some other work at the end of the day. I shall speak to the client tomorrow about returning to strip the ivy and clear around the base to get a better picture of what is going on.

 

I know he is against losing any of these trees, so a discussion on what to do with this one needs to be had. In a failure scenario a prevailing wind would take it over the public highway. It would be very easy to say 'well it's a beech so it won't like a heavy reduction, so what would you prefer, monolith or ground zero?'

 

As has been mentioned already there is too little in the photos so a proper investigation is required.

 

Regards,

 

Steve.

If it is terminal , for me and only my preference, I like monolith, as long as its pole can not reach the high value target area, gives what ever is feeding on it something to eat, along with all the other wildlife benefits ,even better if its got a great big fat coronet crown.

[Arbtech Tree Services]

Dont take "too" much notice of beech not handling reductions, its not what youdo but how you do it that counts:biggrin:

 

If it is terminal , for me and only my preference, I like monolith, as long as its pole can not reach the high value target area, gives what ever is feeding on it something to eat, along with all the other wildlife benefits ,even better if its got a great big fat coronet crown.

 

As this one does not have any laterals until quite some height, a reduction wouldn't reduce the overall weight by a great percentage and as it's in a stand the reduction in wind loading would also not be so great, therefore to my mind possibly not the best way to go.

 

The grounds do already have a monolith from the late nineties, but nearer to this beech is the mark where a sycamore once stood. When i felled that one it was a classic 'and i just climbed that?' as there was nothing left of it inside.

 

Monolith or total removal would be the customer's call, but like Jesse i would try to push towards leaving something there.

 

Regards,

 

Steve.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Get on some courses run by helen read and flora/Ancient tree forum,open your eyes to decay and the living tree.

[daltontrees]

I suspect you disagree because you are reading into it too much, nothing i said would cause a problem with any of the above, information is ALL we can provide here, enabling the OP to make an informed choice based on the varied positions/information.

 

Although it does not work this way for 99% the attitude should always be that felling is the last resort, not the first. Only after all the facts are in (and they are not) should one give in to the easy options.

 

I have sympathy for the presumption of retention, but it's the client's call and the advice should be objective even if it does include the possibilities for safe retention.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

I have sympathy for the presumption of retention, but it's the client's call and the advice should be objective even if it does include the possibilities for safe retention.

 

I give in, you win, lets fell it without further analysis:001_huh:

[daltontrees]

I give in, you win, lets fell it without further analysis:001_huh:

 

Eh? Didn't you read my advice to the OP? To recap, it was to see it through by getting expert opinion after a proper inspection, weigh up the odds and advise the client so that an informed decision can be made. And I agree that the advice on what the options are could include a well-informed means of doing something other than removing.