what would you do with this?

[Brooklandsbob]

Here's my next job, the owner wants to preserve as much as possible. My first thoughts are to pollard but I'd be interested to hear what you all think.

[CJM]

Looks like it in a field, I'd remove that lowest limb overhanging the road and dead wood the rest. Nature will take it course after that at least it can slowly die without dropping a limb on the road

[Brooklandsbob]

Looks like it in a field, I'd remove that lowest limb overhanging the road and dead wood the rest. Nature will take it course after that at least it can slowly die without dropping a limb on the road

 

That lower limb is coming off, as whilst it is still live it's ripe to split due to the weight. There are several ash trees on this farm all of which have been treated to a pollard, but look awful. I think the dead wood idea is right but do you think it might be as well to advise felling to save future problems due to it's proximity to the road?

[CJM]

That lower limb is coming off, as whilst it is still live it's ripe to split due to the weight. There are several ash trees on this farm all of which have been treated to a pollard, but look awful. I think the dead wood idea is right but do you think it might be as well to advise felling to save future problems due to it's proximity to the road?

 

It's hard to tell which way it's leaning if it's away from the road i'd just dead wood it once it dies then he can get you back in to fell it. You said he'd like to keep the tree so give him what he wants and eventually you'll get an extra job out if it in stead of one.

[Brooklandsbob]

It's hard to tell which way it's leaning if it's away from the road i'd just dead wood it once it dies then he can get you back in to fell it. You said he'd like to keep the tree so give him what he wants and eventually you'll get an extra job out if it in stead of one.

 

Good advice cheers

[agg221]

OK, you asked 'what would you do' rather than 'do you know what you are doing'....

 

I would consider two options. 1, do the minimum and let it retrench gradually. 2, encourage the retrenchment. The reason I say this is because the area I've circled in green looks to have good internal growth, suggesting natural retrenchment. To encourage this I would cut back reasonably hard, but not really pollard it as I suspect the shock would kill it.

 

For aesthetic reasons (since this seems to be a consideration here) I would use drop-crotch cuts where possible, working on the basis that although this makes them relatively heavy, there is more work to be done later once the retrenchment growth takes over, so although ash isn't naturally durable and hence is likely to rot before it heals on heavy cuts, the remaining heavy wood above the cut will be taken out before it becomes unstable. Where there is no suitable point to drop-crotch to, such as the branches overhanging the road, I would cut back as shown and then coronet up the end, particularly on the underside, to simulate a slight rip fracture.

 

One or two of the central cuts I've shown higher up are slight guesswork as I would want to walk round the tree to place them.

 

My long-term aim would be to end up with a natural looking retrenchment/pollard, with the majority of branches springing from the height of the horizontal branch over the road (which is why I would shorten it to encourage growth near the centre, rather than remove it), but maybe leaving the straight section above alone too until it gradually disappeared by itself. May well become hollow, but with the weight off it I would expect it to be stable, even if future work was erratic, although it would require the introduction of a maintenance cycle, and it would be great veteran habitat.

 

Please do not take the above as advice - I am not qualified to give it! It would work nicely on an apple or pear though and I would get away with it on a plum....

 

I would, however, be very interested in David Humphries' view of just how wrong I am.

 

Alec

[Brooklandsbob]

OK, you asked 'what would you do' rather than 'do you know what you are doing'....

 

I would consider two options. 1, do the minimum and let it retrench gradually. 2, encourage the retrenchment. The reason I say this is because the area I've circled in green looks to have good internal growth, suggesting natural retrenchment. To encourage this I would cut back reasonably hard, but not really pollard it as I suspect the shock would kill it.

 

For aesthetic reasons (since this seems to be a consideration here) I would use drop-crotch cuts where possible, working on the basis that although this makes them relatively heavy, there is more work to be done later once the retrenchment growth takes over, so although ash isn't naturally durable and hence is likely to rot before it heals on heavy cuts, the remaining heavy wood above the cut will be taken out before it becomes unstable. Where there is no suitable point to drop-crotch to, such as the branches overhanging the road, I would cut back as shown and then coronet up the end, particularly on the underside, to simulate a slight rip fracture.

 

One or two of the central cuts I've shown higher up are slight guesswork as I would want to walk round the tree to place them.

 

My long-term aim would be to end up with a natural looking retrenchment/pollard, with the majority of branches springing from the height of the horizontal branch over the road (which is why I would shorten it to encourage growth near the centre, rather than remove it), but maybe leaving the straight section above alone too until it gradually disappeared by itself. May well become hollow, but with the weight off it I would expect it to be stable, even if future work was erratic, although it would require the introduction of a maintenance cycle, and it would be great veteran habitat.

 

Please do not take the above as advice - I am not qualified to give it! It would work nicely on an apple or pear though and I would get away with it on a plum....

 

I would, however, be very interested in David Humphries' view of just how wrong I am.

 

Alec

 

Very thought provoking and really appreciated.

[peatff]

I'd probably kill it but I'd leave it looking better for a while.

[David Humphries]

Here's my next job, the owner wants to preserve as much as possible. My first thoughts are to pollard but I'd be interested to hear what you all think.

 

I think the owner is spot on with his desire to maintain as much of this tree as possible at the same time as meeting his duty of care to the highway users & visitors to his land.

They seem to have a good handle on their responsibility as a tree owner and also the benefits surrounding a tree like this.

 

If you look at the Senario 2 on page 62 of the National Tree Safety Groups Common Sense Risk Management of Trees, the situation described is pretty much exactly what you are describing above.

 

The owner knows that this tree requires some level of management, he has instructed an Arb to advise, and (hopefully) will be keeping some form of record on file as to the survey and any remedial works carried out.

 

This should be enough to be able to demonstrate "the conduct to be expected from a resonable and prudent landowner"

 

 

 

Personally I would be looking (based on a couple of photos ofcourse) to reduce the end weight on the lower extended limb over the road, by a some meters back to suitable growth points, and to be only removing the significant dead wood that poses a risk on the roadside of the tree.

 

I would also be looking for any signs of old fruitbody attachment in the canopy of Inonotus hispidus and for signs of fruiting at the base of the trunk for Ganoderma sp and or Perenniporia fraxinia and be tapping the trunk to listen for sounds of decay.

 

 

I would consider two options. 1, do the minimum and let it retrench gradually. 2, encourage the retrenchment.

 

Hi Alec,

I think a tree like this, in this situation, apparant condition and environment, only really requires the first option at this point in time.

 

.

[Brooklandsbob]

Thanks for your thoughts David and I will follow up on your points. The trunk sounds solid and I must say that I am leaning towards Alec's ideas for retrenchment. My client is a local Councillor so is keen to do things the right way. There are quite a few similar Ash trees on his land that have been heavily pruned in the past and I think he's keen to try a different approach.