Veteran Sycamore

[simonm]

We have been asked to do some work on a few large trees on site, the company we sub through does the grounds maintenance there. They have had a tree survey done and some of the work outlined is unclear in particular work on a veteran Sycamore, All the upright leaders have failed in the upper crown, there is a lot of large dead wood and also extensive wood pecker damage. Am i right in thinking that it is an indication of soft wood? the tree is slowing in vigour and beginning to decline, there is a bee colony in the main stem about 7 m high so said tree needs making safe but but has to be retained to keep the bee colony. The recommendation for work is "heavily reduce the habitat tree" does that mean pollard? maybe remove large scaffold limbs? to reduce risk of failure?

[simonm]

I meant to add there is an office block next to the tree, a busy access road and a school playing field.

[sloth]

Contact the author of the report for clarification, that's vague at best...

 

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[born2trot]

Dont think that means pollard .. It means what it says .. heavy reduction . Take the dead out to the live limbs and make the tree look as good as you possibly can . Not much more you can really do ?

[combined tree services]

I would assume it means what it says - heavily reduce the tree to make it safe and less prone to failure , possibly coronet / fracture prune and leave looking as natural as possible

[sloth]

Would 'heavily reduce the habitat tree' be accepted on a tpo app? Does it follow the work spec recommendations a la 3998? Does it leave no room for misinterpretation if different contractors are quoting for the work?

I'd go back to the report author, I don't think that is an acceptable spec...

 

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[sloth]

Dont think that means pollard .. It means what it says .. heavy reduction . Take the dead out to the live limbs and make the tree look as good as you possibly can . Not much more you can really do ?

 

Taking dead out would be deadwooding. If it's a 'habitat ttee' the deadwood may well be what makes it a habitat tree!

 

 

 

 

 

I would assume it means what it says - heavily reduce the tree to make it safe and less prone to failure , possibly coronet / fracture prune and leave looking as natural as possible

 

Heavily reduce being-

1. Half its current height and width?

2. 2m crown reduction?

3. 5m crown reduction?

4. Reduction to a monolith?

 

The spec is too open to interpretation!

 

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[combined tree services]

Taking dead out would be deadwooding. If it's a 'habitat ttee' the deadwood may well be what makes it a habitat tree!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heavily reduce being-

1. Half its current height and width?

2. 2m crown reduction?

3. 5m crown reduction?

4. Reduction to a monolith?

 

The spec is too open to interpretation!

 

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Arbtalk mobile app

 

Heavy reduction being retrench using fracture pruning or coronet depending on the experience of the climber . I wouldn't get too hung up on BS standards in my opinions lot of it goes out of the window when dealing with veteran trees . But that is only my opinion

 

I would not be comfortable leaving a tree on a roadside with a reduction of say 20% crown volume if the tree is growing down/ naturally retrenching

[simonm]

My point exactly. The grounds maintenace firm we do work through does not want me to contact the company who did the arboricultural survey due to them letting them down on various sites and making them look bad in the clients eyes. They no longer deal with them, which makes it more difficult for us.

[born2trot]

Exactly as stated above .The high risk targets take absolute precedence here over any habitat issue . Leaving large dead limbs in this tree ? = Crazy ..

Spec is clear . Not open to interpretation .

Edited November 16, 2014 by born2trot