treeseer

Sorry but from the pic it's hard to say much about the branches. The contortive/reactive growth as said may be quite normal, and the lower ones may lack sun. It may get a bit too interesting when the old girl sheds a limb unannounced. Perhaps some improvement of soil compacted by humans might help ease this tree's condition, along with a closer look at that fork, which looks pretty narrow to me. If splitting is likely, a cable would be the least damaging and longer-lasting treatment.

Maybe not; the infection first indicates that dirt is on the stem, and the flare needs inspecting, and cleaning. Many trees recover from this; though not many have that unfortunate codominance!

Hoo boy ya got me there! I gotta fold for now; not sure how relevant this slight mutation is to the segmentation/column-forming process, but it is worth thinking about!

Well 10.4.3 seems limited to screws and bolts, however, since "Any user claiming compliance with this British Standard is expected to be able to justify any course of action that deviates from its recommendations.", it would be an easy matter for anyone knowledgeable to justify through-cabling with either of those end-fasteners. "If you took off enough weight to make a significant difference to the splitting force of teh dead load on the basal compression fork, wouldn't that cause the stem to straighten up, transferring compression into the fork and putting unaccustomed loads onto the narrow zone of adaptive growth at the poinbt of included bark? Wouldn't cambium at the margin be crushed?" Jules I don't think the cambium is all that fragile--crushed?--, but you do raise a good point, which supports the approach of not pruning away tree benefits, but instead installing supplemental support. Scraping away the included bark might facilitate grafting of the cambium on both sides, thus ending the inclusion. The rest, why so quick to dismiss options and remove arboreal assets!

David, thanks for the math check. I underestimated that guidance by 20%; mea maxima culpa. fagus, why would you take some weight off? I am sure those pruning works would acknowledge there is a fault in the tree. More info on tree and site conditions needed to make a prognosis. I've worked on many trees that were much larger and much closer to a residence. The owners were not cowering under their beds in fear of that proximity.

bLIMEY! try google Rigguy, Inc >> Solving Your Challenges Through Innovative Solutions and file:///C:/Users/guy/Downloads/sp3062-2wedgegripde__.pdf They're not well (enough) recognised over here either, because of ultraconservative interests choking information flow, to resist changing their scripts. Ergo, a 9/16" hole is 'standard', instead of a 1/4" hole. In a beech, Liriodendron, soft maple, you know the result. Lovely. Utterly befuddling to a through-cabling arborist that a uk guidebook on vet tree mgt. has 40 pages on pruning and barely 40 words on supplemental support. Cultural taboos carry weight over here too--some places have a lot more lopping going on, while others have trended away; it's no longer the style.

"That's a pretty cheap supplier you have over the pond, wish I was close enough too get deals like that." Fasteners 2 x $30 = $60, so there's a markup in mtls. I'll bring you some over in May if you like. "Although the materials have a 30 year life span that doesn't mean neglecting them until that time though" No more or less than the tree should be neglected if the pruning option is chosen. Trees need followup care no matter what. That 'cabling needs extra inspections' tenet is somewhat mythical. "surely you would put a bigger cable in before the eye bolts callous over? Other wise there would be the potential of re drilling into the tree." Surely not! The cable goes into a 1/4" hole drilled through the stem; NO huge hole for through-bolts needed. Could be that one might be added higher up in ~>10 years, depending on loads etc.

And you're sure to do a better job.

Rosaceous chips aka hawthorn seemed to be fungistatic as well.../ If nature was hard on the tree, don't you be too hard on it, too! Best to just cut to the first good nodes behind the breaks; forget about collar cutting on storm damage. If the owner loves it s/he will wait for it to regain a natural form. All the mulch and worms in the world won't restore the juice stored in limbs.

Hard to say as we can't see whole crown; looks like left leader (south?) is sprawling a bit. First option would be to cable with 3/16" EHS (30+ years material life)

I found 'genetic mosaic' challenging; the phrase rhymes, but the meaning escapes me. Conceptually frenetic; not at all prosaic. Certainly kinetic, but is it a 'mosaic'? Not a montage, assortment or medley, It's organically growing, readily, steadily. I'll stop now, 'fore Tony has a cow...

So David, this article is an expansion on what David wrote in p. 81-82 of the 2013 guidance? Amazing, yes, but entirely normal as well. Vascular continuity is what we need to be looking for. The black streak is a dead area between two buttress roots that keep a tree from falling on a house (c. 1734). Note the woundwood at the top seems likely to be broken through--hence your ? about colonisation at the crown break? In the standard below, it was hard to get the line about stem tissue connection included. That viable-segment concept is not readily accepted by defect-centric assessors, but it's the living tree that matters, not the parts it's shed! 83.3 Trunk, flare, and root inspection 83.3.1 Objectives of inspections shall be established. 83.3.2 The method, area, depth, and limitations of inspection shall be specified. 83.3.3 Tools and equipment used for inspection shall be specified. 83.3.4 Inspection should include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following: Conditions in the crown that may reflect root conditions; Stem tissue connecting the crown and the roots; Girdling of the buttress roots or stems by roots or other materials, and the tree’s response; Tree association with beneficial and harmful insects; Tree association with pathogenic and beneficial microorganisms (e.g. mycorrhizae); Wounds, and the tree’s response to wounds; Mechanical damage to detectable roots and response; Indications of root disease and response; and, Graft unions in grafted trees. 83.3.5 Mulch, soil, and other materials should be removed as needed to allow for the inspection.

Does the girdling root play any vascular role? hmm maybe not enough to warrant leaving the conflict; gotta look closer. It may be a candidate for removal to lessen the stress on the trunk and buttress in the west/north sector of the root crown, yes. No knowledge from the present owner as to whether the conductor has taken any hits; the damage was over 7 years ago. It likely was broken by a 'karate chopped' leader that was overcabled ~20-30 years ago. Any determination of internal decay at crown break? If 'crown break' means where the scaffold limbs originate, yes I think I will find some, when I do finally climb it. It'd be interesting to ask local entomologists what to look for in a survey of the associated buggy species on and within it. The U folks in Florida were helpful that way with Q virginiana, epiphytes too. I'd like to compare what's there with the Red List etc. That whole ecology thing is not so front and center over here, but it will grow if it is applied, I hope...

ITMP in progress. Suggestions? http://www.historictreecare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/US-Champion-White-Oak-140320.pdf

This is very important for us--sets the objective that gets communicated to the crew, so expectations are clear, and met.

Only 3 of those are defects; the rest are features...

The HOW is a big question, too. Parts of China that I saw had some very different methods of pruning and planting and...a lot of 'ing's. David as much as i wanted to see who was in that band, the link didn't work for me.

Given all the variables, if we persist in insisting on standards for peer-reviewed science to draw any inferences about mature tree growth, that seems excessively limiting. Vascular tissue could possibly cross and yet continue to put on annual increments. The inner part of the crossing pair might graft to the outer, maintaining water flow upward and sustaining the part of the tree served by it. Why couldn't grafting (perhaps not the best term) be the mechanism to keep resources flowing? These are not impervious pipes after all.

Tissues in trouble develop their olfactory sense.

sounds good Scott. The readiness to open the wallet varies a lot, but good info can open it more readily, in any land. Raising the bar for proof of great benefits too high inhibits experimentation tho; the benefit when drainage and aeration are improved seems obvious to me, and suffices for many clients, who know that proactive is cheaper than reactive treatments.

Could be as larva hatched from an egg that was laid while mom was drinking the flux. Attached example. Ooze in the News from TCI Magazine 09-04.pdf

Cracker...is that what you guys call a biscuit?

Positively itchy, and the biodiversity could get out of bounds. I favor longsleeves too; same reason. Shorts are seldom seen in the US, but downunder, naked legs are commonly seen in trees. Will you be doing a followup on Arboreal Funglow?

Please note the bracket grows where the tree wounded itself with included bark. Also note the dirt contacting stem tissue, aggravating moisture issues. Squidgy? Perhaps even perennial conks get squidgy when inundated.

"Most hardpans caused by anything other than chronic tillage (more likely in an urban forestry context) are in the top of the soil." I'm no expert on British soil, but here the C layer, >1'-2' deep, is very often poorly draining clay. " Given the size of this device, I'm guessing it would only penetrate a "surface" hardpan anyway? " The bar is 5' long, and often goes halfway in. " How many holes do you typically have to make to have a commercially-useful effect for, let's say a 600mm dbh largish garden tree, and how long would it take to do?" Highly variable depending on several factors. For a big job I'd use the Air Knife x-hfa. "You mention inoculation in your post. Are you referring to the effect of Guy putting in the healthy roots from another tree with gravel, or some sort of commercial mycorrhizzal product?" Mostly rely on fresh roots and soil. Niot a Guy thing; check research by Ferrini and Fini (honest). I do often add a commercial product as well. Studies were based on stale material, or soil that already had good microbial balance. The research here is strongly tilted toward chemical usage. They go out of their way to set up studies that dis alternatives. Nonetheless, inoculation is indeed established practice in the US. Unfortunately 'fell and replant' is common advice here as well, when consultants and arborists avoid getting their hands dirty.