Hollow Beech Dismantle

[SamTree]

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[SamTree]

Beech removal from last week.

 

Was good to see that it was hollow, as confirmation of what was expected from the tree report and resistograph testing carried out by the company i work for. This also made it possible to pick the sections off with the timber grab.

 

The tree was rigged down as there were 3 man hole covers and drainage system within the drop zone. As these where the only targets this allowed for some big sections to be rigged out, was good fun on the GRCS.

 

Hope you enjoy, cheers Sam

[David Humphries]

Interesting video.

 

Weather looked a bit depressing for the latter part of the job.

 

Nice array of machinery at hand to carry out the dismantle

 

Do you know whether there was any mitigation for the tree hosting bats prior to the removal, it 'looked' like it had prime potential as a habitat tree.

 

Was there any specific fungal colonisation associated with the hollowing?

 

Do you know whether there's been any consideration on the additional wind load placed on the grafted copper beech next to it, any plans for canopy reduction on that and any of its neighbouring trees?

 

cheers

 

David

 

 

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[Steve Bullman]

Nice job mate. If you have a fire at your yard stick one of those hollow rings on it laid on its side, then chuck some meat in the hollow...makes an awesome little furnace for cooking

[SamTree]

Interesting video.

 

 

 

Weather looked a bit depressing for the latter part of the job.

 

 

 

Nice array of machinery at hand to carry out the dismantle

 

 

 

Do you know whether there was any mitigation for the tree hosting bats prior to the removal, it 'looked' like it had prime potential as a habitat tree.

 

 

 

Was there any specific fungal colonisation associated with the hollowing?

 

 

 

Do you know whether there's been any consideration on the additional wind load placed on the grafted copper beech next to it, any plans for canopy reduction on that and any of its neighbouring trees?

 

 

 

cheers

 

 

 

David

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

 

Hi David,

 

The machinery made the job a lot more efficient, we where glad to strip out the brash on the first day any only have the timber to deal with on the second in the heavy rain.

 

Totally agree, the tree did look like prime bat habitat, with the extensive hollows and open cracks and cavaliers In the upper crown! An investigative bat survey was carried out by my boss and my self as part of an aerial inspection. An endoscope was used to probe the openings to the cavities but there was no evidence of any activity other than that of squirrels. Although there was a large bees nest in the main stem, luckily there was no bee's but plenty of honey.

 

We have carried out a 1.5m reduction in height to the grafted copper beech to, as you mentioned hopefully mitigate any potential increase in wind loading. We have some more work to do at the site so will try and get some pictures.

 

We were not sure as to what fungal species was at work, as there was no evidence of fruiting bodies, it was an interesting cavity, the main stem was hollow from Apox 2-7m with incipient decay both above and bellow. Any guesses?

[SamTree]

Nice job mate. If you have a fire at your yard stick one of those hollow rings on it laid on its side, then chuck some meat in the hollow...makes an awesome little furnace for cooking

 

 

Cheers Steve,

 

That sounds like a neat idea, we could have done with some hot food on the second day in the rain : )

 

Some of the sections of the hollow stem did make some great sculptural pieces for the customer to keep.

[David Humphries]

...........

 

We have carried out a 1.5m reduction in height to the grafted copper beech to, as you mentioned hopefully mitigate any potential increase in wind loading. We have some more work to do at the site so will try and get some pictures.

 

We were not sure as to what fungal species was at work, as there was no evidence of fruiting bodies, it was an interesting cavity, the main stem was hollow from Apox 2-7m with incipient decay both above and bellow. Any guesses?

 

Reckon that's a good call in terms of surrounding wind load, I've witnessed a number of trees that have become isolated due to neighbouring trees removed that have lost branches or even become wind blown entirely.

 

I'd offer up Pholiota aurivella as a potential for the upper stem decay. Its an annual fruitbody which could account for missing any fruiting.

 

It will colonise the trunk and scaffolds over a fair distance like in the attached image

 

Pholiota aurivella - Golden scalycap - David Humphries’s Fungi Directory - Arbtalk.co.uk | Discussion Forum for Arborists

 

Interesting as to the degree of void down the length of trunk in terms of where the decayed debris has all gone?

The base looks fairly solid, were there any large cavities toward the base where it could have fallen out from?

 

 

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[SamTree]

Hi yes would be a shame if any collateral damage was to occur to the copper beech, it is an interesting tree with an unusual high graft.

 

That does seem a likely candidate, every day is a school day : )

 

There was a lot of debris in the lower stem section, but the top was mostly clear, there was no large cavities only a few openings through old pruning wounds, there was a lot of black staining on the main stem, so at a guess water may have entered the higher opening and flushed debris out of the lower openings.

[SamTree]

Hi David, thought you might be interested to know, was having a look in the log yard at the sections of hollow beech and there is fruit bodies of Pholiota aurivella, we have also found these on sections of timber from another beech we recently took down with decay higher in the main stem.

[peatff]

All done from a moop (mobile overhead operating platform) Nice video and strange the tree not being hollow at the bottom I thought. Is that a common thing ?