treeseer

Elegant work. I just retained a dead central leader for habitat. It was over a bench, so it was tethered (but too high to notice). Any thought of that on the long stub, or is traffic quite low? From the looks of it, the branch is extremely unlikely to fail, but I wonder if perceived risk might be a factor. re segmentation, pull testing can give a glimpse into how that can work. See how this maple comes apart; and joins back together?

Yes extraordinary capture there--well done! Depends on the site, but...reduction need not be hard, if support is adequate. And ashes could be reduced instead of felled as well. But my limited experience with beech is that they do not break dormant buds in the shade, so good thought to lighten the interior.

6 months? Why wait 6 hours? Excellent job capturing that movement! Deadwooding and raising would increase center of gravity, and risk. Installing cable and/or brace rod(s) and some reduction would seem to be in order. Support system could buy decades or centuries of useful life.

Right; it's not clear that these growths are related to the lack of flowering.

Many causes to dieback. Pics of canopy would be useful. If a machine got close enough to wound the trunk, it compacted the soil, for instance. Tree pests are primarily primates.

The 3rd pic resembles that disease; the first 2 look like physical injuries.

Adam, your uni must have BS3998--have you read the bracing section? It's not that long... the suggestion to fell based on fear is without substance. If you might pick one tree--the 'worst'?-- and put up some pics to show that one tree's issues, then you might get useful help.

That is a very short term positive; as the bacteria are spent the beetles move in--brown dust in pic--and after that rot. Frothy flux is pathogenic and quite distinct from slime flux.

The encasement in reaction wood can indeed be reinforcing! Cables installed with lag bolts located too low can indeed pull out. that is why through-cabling, and higher placement, is preferred. Tannin eats metal? Is there a reference for this--I have not seen it in 100's of cabled oaks. For structurally challenged trees that are pruned instead of cabled, you obviously have concerns over structural integrity, so they should be inspected on a regular basis. As with cables, this inspection period could be 5 years or more.

Southern California and the UK are very different; flora and fauna. Vive la Difference!

Yes it's got bacteria in it...and yeast, and other soil microbes that get into the sapstream. Full story from 10 years ago attached. David, I do have one documented case of an infection sealing after 2 treatments. It's near the honey root job I'll do tomorrow. Also on that site are 3+ frothy infections, and I'll get paid there so will send a full report. The big frother above is on the tree I got married under; not paid to treat it but still motivated. Sad to see the other so girdled. Ooze in the News from TCI Magazine 09-04.pdf

Impossible to say without seeing the constraint they are intended to mitigate. They appear too close together to comply with US standard. But that's no cause for action. What does your reading of BS3998 indicate? If this is a uni assgt, should we be asked to do it for you?

A cocktail of microbes enter the tree and kill the cambium. Dry it out or it can kill the tree. First pic is Quercus prinus, 90% girdled, on the way out. Last pic is on a Q alba and will be treated.

Deer? Too much water? Buried roots? Chemicals leached from treated wood? I don't knwo. Obviously!

apggs, the inspection would give a range of options, the most typical of which might be re-installation higher up. I recommend checking BS3998 on this, which describes BOTH static and dynamic systems. Your uni would have a copy I trust. The terminology is overly dichotomous, as static systems do allow for some movement. Also, adaptive growth is stimulated by many factors, so the advantage of dynamic systems may be overstated. see image. Personally I favor through-cabling with wedgegrip fasteners, but have seen many dynamic systems doing a good job. Have fun, David--Jon is the Energizer Bunny of anti-synthetic ranters.

Jon, there is variability in advice from pathologists. That extension bulletin is typical in the US; it was the same in NC before I took Independent Study with my old path. prof. and reviewed Schwarze's Fungal Strategies book. That didn't change things enough, but it showed me how backward the US is in ecological matters in general. Pathologists from Bartlett Labs have taught their field guys to treat Armillaria-infected trees with Trichoderma. When dealing with your client's trees, you might look to that more than to an extension guy who spends about .oo1% of his time with arboriculture. His primary audience is nurserymen, so his advice does not fit arboriculture. Though it can make a speedy sale for Basil Kutz.

I'd like to try one of those! I wonder how big a compressor is needed...

A client of mine used a black light on the interior of a q alba hollowed by Bondarzewia berkeleyii. The conks popped out in new places the next season, the spread confirmed by tomo. He died of cancer that year too. no connection i'm sure. Drying sapwood rot is proven effective; drying heartwood rot is pretty risky. imo. The tree's >80% hollow and growing, still not too bad; it gets a 9% tickle every other year. Hoping the new owner will understand the regimen, and the prognosis. The 9' diameter q rubra in the june 2014 detective story is >90% hollow. Jon, *please* write a letter to the editor about how you know more than 13 reviewers about fungi and death sentences; I would so love to compose a reply.... The shoestrings on the q alba in this thread are facing due south, where the wounding was. I never noticed any compass-colonisation connection. I'll be exposing the wounded root next Monday, collecting samples, and giving the U lab a go at ID. It's only $15, the client will pay, wut the hey. Likely we'll be removing all decayed matter and probing inward. Even if hollow is detected, that would not affect pruning specs much; as it is, they are 0; if the trunk's hollow, maybe 1-3m reduction of the top, to start it growing down. it is exposed to the south, but we seldom get storm winds from that direction. the thing to remember is--the tree is supported by its buttresses , not its heartwood.

David, I might try bringing in some shoestrings to that lab, but can sp. be ID'd from those? without DNA analysis I mean. Unclear how many sp. we have; depends on who you ask. I'd be pleasantly surprised if they were easy to sort out from any kind of analysis. Tony, thanks for the enlightenment neighbor but you're the only one talking about a beast on the loose. But your suggestion to deacidify conditions has merit; soil replacement is standard practice, and of course a necessity after removing soil to diagnose.... I would tend to use a sterile medium, not landscape soil, and maybe lime to raise pH? And yes drying, so that medium would be very porous.

Saproxylic species of Armilaria perhaps, yes, but can't they all morph into parasitic mode? Maybe a tad rash to condem the tree to uneccessary work due to the unknown, of course; diagnosis first. Worth getting an ID on the rhizomorphs first, so i take it the best way would be to pull off dead bark from the root and look for more shoestrings. Is ID of these structures in the arbtalk app? I have yet to get that on my new phone.

A client showed me a bag of debris pulled off the root of an oak that was wounded when they build some stairs. It had the brittle black shoestrings in it, no conk. Sorry, she tossed it before I got a pic. The root sounds hollow but the trunk does not. What should we do?

Gad. As much as I love the lil mosquito munchers, from the US view that is regs run amok; all the more essential to make them homes in the trees before the project falls under the radar--or is that sonar? --of the local authorities. countrryboy; glad that may be of use. since our furry friends roost in vertical slits, maybe just cutting in that direction would suffice. Also, that would much lessen strength loss in the host tree; could even be done to a living tree imo. Check the Kenyon's work in full if you have time; my cutnpaste/ interpretation is surely lacking useful details. They'd no doubt be glad to respond to any queries, as this was clearly a heartfelt mission on their part. Tell em i really liked their demo at ArborCamp 2011, and will be baaack!

That last oak is cracked! It may be time to install some support, so those parts remain close together, if longevity is desired. Perhaps an article on support is needed in that journal, to shift the paradigm toward bracing as an option. Couldn't find the Lonsdale paper in that link; just a lot of golden opportunities to spend $46 USD per article. Time to join and subscribe?

Great work! The 2nd-coat approach may work on lifeless surfaces, not trees.

Can one take insulin on the job? running out of steam is common with leukemia too. I have to take frequent breaks/slowdowns and avoid heavy lifting but some of that is from age too (63). Climbing is less exerting than most ground work, with the right tricks and toys. As with any constraint, have the right mates, listen to your body and pace yourself and you can get it done.