Managing declining trees

[Nick Harrison]

Was down in Devon the other week and found this in a very public location that during the summer has a high footfall from visiting tourists. it's nice to see a tree being left alone, wondered if anyone else has seen much of this type of thing in urban areas and also thoughts on this type of management?

 

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[David Humphries]

Would be a shame if the tourists were from Mongolia

 

I like it and think its a good management technique.

 

Although it's the liability angle on this type of management, you are conceding that there is a real perceived potential for failure, and as such are you doing all that is reasonable to manage people in the vicinity of that risk?

 

 

Lots of children as well as Mongolians struggle to read english

 

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[Nick Harrison]

That's what I had thought too. What with the discussions going on with the kew case recently and the prosecution suggesting that signs should have been put up to warn public of potential risk may have prevented a fatality. Wonder how the court case would have gone tho if there were signs but a death still occurred?

Would be interesting to go back in the height of summer to see if anyone was sitting under this tree..

 

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[Marc]

What about the person who mows the grass? I guess he us mongolian!

Coincidentally i used to be a gardeneer for one of the colleges in Oxford, we had a mighty Horse Chesnut in the grounds one summers day i cut the grass under it went to the canteen for lunch when i came back a third of the tree had collapsed. This spurred the college to get their act together on tree management and pushed me into Arboriculture.

 

Seen this management in a National trust site, a white picket fence was installed and the area underneath left to go wild and over grown which in my opinion made the area less appealing to go into.

Edited June 19, 2014 by Marc

[Paul Barton]

Letting the grass grow within the fence would be a good idea although some might find it less aesthetically pleasing.

 

Maybe a couple of Rottweilers leashed to the stem would work.

 

 

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[David Humphries]

This old oak (Nick knows it well) used to have mown grass up to its 630cm diameter trunk with benches immediately around the trunk.

 

We moved the benches outside of the drip line and had the metal fence errected & then left the brambles to grow unchecked.

 

No one goes under its canopy now.

 

 

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[Marc]

Nice picture set David,

[Paul Barton]

Very nice. That fence looks expensive...did you have to justify the tree's value to get that put in?

[David Humphries]

Not at that time Paul, perhaps if we did something similar along these lines now, we probably would have to put a buisness case together.

 

budget was there and we tied into the contract for another tree/fence issue......

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-health-care/6986-trees-failing-so-move-target.html

 

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[Gary Prentice]

Letting the grass grow within the fence would be a good idea although some might find it less aesthetically pleasing.

 

Maybe a couple of Rottweilers leashed to the stem would work.

 

 

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Paul, you have to account for stupid.

Despite signs on two entry doors, with pictures for those who can't read English, we still have people walk into the office to meet three rotties and a deranged cocker spaniel.

 

6ft steel palisade fencing and minefield notices should do the trick.