Beech bulge

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Not seen anything quite as pronounced as the mid height stem bulge in this Beech before.

 

I'm not sure the pictures do it justice, are the historic pruning cuts of lower branches likely to have lead to such bulging?

 

The wall behind the tree is a complicating factor but I can't see that being the cause of the bulging either.

 

Any insights or comments (or further detail required in order to make a comment) much appreciated

[Steve Bullman]

I'd love to see whats inside that

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

You might soon!

[daltontrees]

A lot of limbs removed around 3 to 6m, then big dense crown exposed to wind loads above building ridges causing lots of stem flexing around occluding wounds, so lots of adaptive growth. Seems consistent.

[Chris at eden]

Barrel did a paper earlier this year linking summer branch drop to old occluded wounds on limbs which have hidden decay / dysfunction. Don't see why you couldn't apply the same logic to the trunk with the bulging being the result.

 

As Jules said also, the change in the damping characteristics may also play a part.

 

Cheers

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Thanks Jules/ Chris. Will try & find that paper.