Sweetgum & Red Maple growing into each other

[france_honduras]

I'm a landscaper and a property I work on has these two large tree growing into each other. Neither tree appears to be dying at this point, although you can see the maple has awful form. When should I look at calling a tree company to take a look? Is this something that can be put off until one or both of trees starts to decline? Can the sweetgum be saved?

[Chris at eden]

Have a look at the below guidance, it will give you an idea of what is required.

 

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/FCMS024.pdf/$FILE/FCMS024.pdf

 

In reality you have already carried out informal observations and a formal inspection and as you cannot quantify the extent of the problem you should call in a qualified arb to do a detailed inspection.

 

It may be difficult to remove one without the other but the longer you leave it the worse it will become. On the up side they look pretty sheltered which will reduce the risk, but even if you lost both it wouldn't have a huge impact on the area and the space created for a replant could be considered as tree renewal.

[france_honduras]

Thank you for the information. Yes, in fact I wouldn't mind have those trees removed as they are shading juniper that are more important. Customer is on a budget (like everyone), and I want to recommend spending for the best value.

[Fredward]

These are referred to as 'bundle' trees, and from the photos it looks as if the tree on the right is being muscled out, but is reacting to the presence of the other tree developing the cusioning. Because the tree on the right is leaning away and displaying signs that it is subject to the forces put on it by the tree on the left, I would imagine this tree would have more failure potential. From the photo's it is apparent that the top is missing from the tree on the right, which would reduce the failure potential although it also appears to have a large branch out in the plane of the lean which wont be helping.

 

They have both grown with each others company, and have optiomised their structres based on this situation, I would imagine removing one or the other may have an impact on the remaining tree, but this would be lessened by the sheltered nature of the surroundings.

 

I think my stance would be to remove the tree on the right, based on aesthetics and in the interest of saving the tree on the left, but I would be interested to hear other opinions.

[doobin]

Just whack the one on the right off, job done.

 

I see this sort of thing all the time in the work I do- usually on ground where the trees haven't even been thinned let alone managed. You get some proper weird shapes, it's quite cool.