treeseer

And succeed! Any idea how the bacterium is related to the lack of smaller twigs? Preferentially invades smaller twigs? Larger twigs resist girdling better?

Using two 12mm rods down in the worst of the decay below the rubbing spot seems likely to spread decay--liquidambar fair at best w codit. 8 mm cables would do the job. but the question remains, why install hardware where woood is weakest? inserted at about 20 degrees to each other to prevent a crack developing between the bolt holes is a good idea. sinking washers into the wood would be highly likely to spread decay and risk failure of the support system. forbidden in A300 A300 calls for a cable--could be a dynamic strap-- higher up to prevent shock loading on the bolts. The pruning job is nice and symmetrical, but more may need to come off that rotten stem

Good pics thanks. I'm guessing the tan wood-toward the driveway and the most root disturbance-is potentially embrittled, in comparison to the red wood. jonny, all's good; quantifying is a good goal yes. I see a lot of healthy holding wood; my glass is half full? round 90%+ of the way. The line inside the healthy sapwood seems sharply drawn. Who can say how long that codit line has been there, and how long it will hold (especially given proper root care)? All heartwood is less functional. It is also less needed by the tree. Not sure what dysfunctional means, in relation to heartwood. is it the same as nonfunctional?

well i've found em underneath bark plates and in cavities, yes.

Was bracing responsible for death? ...that other thread warned about giving actionable advice based on inadequate info. Tree has an odd structure, even for a liquidambar (fair codit sp.) "Parts of a tree that contain decayed wood are often unsuitable for bracing together using a rigid system, since the bracing rods are likely to pull out if the decay spreads into the sound wood in which the rods have been secured" This agrees w ANSI, which forbids some installations in trees w decay >30%. But using a cable in these areas as a brace is compliant. "Anchors and braces shall not be installed into decayed areas where sound wood is less than 30% of the trunk or branch diameter" Because a cable is not an anchor or a brace, through-cabling into >70% unsound wood using end-fasteners is compliant w ANSI. Consider the spot above--yellow line-- where the 2 leaders seem to rub. maybe scrape off bark there and press them together with a throughcable, to stimulate grafting?

"I never heard that term applied to a tree before and couldn't find it in any of my books from across the water either." what else does one call those areas? "I completely agree that discolouration is not tantamount to decay, or even incipient decay, but, the hardness mentioned earlier is equaly not tantamount to tree strength" are you sure " and in most cases can be a weakness as it makes the wood too stiff and brittle." what is your reference for 'most'? that wood does not look embrittled. "Unfortunately, I am viewing the pictures from an iphone," handy tool. " however, I can still see vast quantities of dysfunctional wood," how much is discouloration I am not going to guess" isn't "dysfunctional" a guess? And isn't 'vast' therefore an exaggeration based on a guess? And why do you not notice or mention anything positive about the tree? Assessment should be unbiased. ' and as far as residual wall is concerned, I was looking to the right of the trunk where it is much thinner and appears to be none existent in some places!" that is the definition of an open cavity, which is too common to get alarmed about. From Diagnosis and Prognosis of Wood Decay in Urban Trees: “In the past there has been an increasing tendency to simplify complex concepts in tree risk assessment. The danger is that with any simplification, a certain degree of inaccuracy has to be taken into account... it, will probably err on the side of caution. … Any arborist who undertakes tree risk assessment should have a profound knowledge of not only the procedures and diagnostic techniques, but first and foremost of host-fungus associations.” Not I, said the little red hen! not without adequate info anyway... My opinions (like most I suspect) are based on experience of witnessing and looking at a significant number of tree failures--and successes!-- over 40 or so years. But it should be acknowledged that a large volume of my work is in retaining trees in the urban environment for the benefit of private owners who value them. Avoiding oversimplification, exaggeration and hasty judgments is a key part of that effort.

That's a reasonable approach. " I wouldn't write a report for the simple fact I'm not qualified to do this and to be honest could mis-diagnose a trees health , if the client does require this for their records I would pass the job on to someone qualified, that's what their paid to do." The divisions in the US are similar to those expressed here, but not quite as rigid. Nothing wrong with referring work, though working arbs are often too bashful about their expertise, while consulting arbs tend to err in the other direction.

Writing style verbose, but personal and entertaining. Thanks!

No BS support standard?

Probably not. The notch is cut near ground level, where one would expect the most decay to be. Plus, Discoloration is not decay. Sinus is a noun, plural si·nus·es. 1. a curve; bend. 2. a curving part or recess. 3. Anatomy . a. any of various cavities, recesses...(concavity) John Goodfellow of Washington, US, followed with a look from the utility perspective at branches that overhang wires. The damage to tree stability from “ground-to-sky” pruning when contractors take previously reduced limbs back to the trunk has cost utilities , Goodfellow noted along with many others that “Crown reduction is too beneficial a technique not to study.” His work has identified a CFZ—Critical Fracture Zone—where branches typically fail, a short distance out from the origin. Goodfellow found that observable “defects” are poor indicators of failure. Direct observations of branches bent by snow after a storm were extremely valuable. Experiments are being designed with reduction cuts being made at different points on the branch, testing each for strength. In one study, a 15% crown reduction increased stability by 50%. Goodfellow, whose foresight spearheaded the gathering, observed that we cannot control trees, but we can manage them. http://www.ecosync.com/tdworld/Branch%20Failure%20Investigation.pdf 16) Sinn, Günter, and Lothar Wessolly. 1989. A contribution to the proper assessment of the strength and stability of trees. Arboricultural Journal 13:45–65. Note: this thread was a dead horse until ross kicked it.

It appears that a light to moderate reduction would have sufficed. A lot goes into these decisions, but mycophobia should not be a factor. Discoloration is not decay, as attested by reports of how hard the wood was. These fungi seldom move fast--who here has measured the rate of rot from merip et al? Sometimes they do not move at all! Inside trees, water flows up, through tubes and channels in the wood. Sap flows down, carrying sugar made in the leaves to the lower trunk and woody roots, to be metabolized and used for vital processes such as defense against the spread of tissue death from dryness or dysfunction or decay, which is the degradation of wood by microorganisms. I Trees have been defending themselves against decay for as long as there have been trees. This defensive process is called Compartmentalization of Decay (/and Disease and /Dryness) in Trees, CODIT. As trees mature, the buttresses at the base expand upward and outward. This expansion denies oxygen to the taproot, causing it to wither and die. Decay naturally moves up into the inactive cells in the inner heartwood of the trunk. This interior decay is common in mature oak trees. Expansion of the buttresses can also squeeze, crack, wound and weaken tissue in the concave areas—“sinuses” --between the buttresses. (Damage from this “included bark” folding inward is similar to the cracks and weakness found in codominant branch unions.) Opportunistic microbial or insect activity is commonly found in sinuses. Since the buttresses are the primary supporting structures of the tree, sinus problems are typically not structural problems, unless decay extends deep into buttress roots with no adaptive growth. Several urban trees that measure over 80% hollow are being managed in the USA. (hayes) Many trees in Europe stand on solid-but-thin shells, at age 600+. Periodic pruning reduces the load and risk. (pfisterer) Sprouts arise on interior of the crowns, creating a rejuvenated crown and much less impact from storm loading. 15% off the ends has been shown to increase stability by 50%. (goodfellow, Wessolly)

Experience. Practice. re the pic, as an arborist you should be paid for time spent digging out all that dirt on the trunk. then you can see what the fungus is about. Scope: Trees with fill contacting the trunk. D-2 Objective: Avoid damage to the tree from the effects of fill on the trunk. D- 3 Specifications: 1. Rake any coarse woody debris or fresh mulch away from the root collar area. 2. Press the blade of a shovel or a trowel against the trunk. Slide it carefully downward until resistance is met. 3. Push the handle toward the trunk, moving the blade away from the trunk. 4. Remove individual adventitious roots <1 cm and stem-girdling roots <1/10 trunk diameter. Manage larger roots per ANSI A300 (Part 8), 83.4 and 84.4. Avoid contact between the trunk and any remaining adventitious, girdling, and circling roots. 5. Lift the material away from the trunk and place it in a temporary staging area. 6. Separate and dispose of any infertile soil and debris. Retain the fertile soil, fine roots, mycorrhizae, and decomposed mulch. 7. Repeat until trunk and flare are clear, out to the root collar, where buttress roots divide. Use smaller hand tools, or compressed water or air, to complete the excavation. Commence the RCX (root collar examination). 8. Consider replanting the tree, if the flare is over 2” (5 cm) below grade and the tree has been in the ground for less than 5 years. 9. Remove soil and fine roots outside of the root collar to make a gradual slope. 10. Consider installing a device to control erosion. 11. Apply 2-4” (5-10 cm) of mulch over the root collar. Avoid mulch contact with the flare. 12. Remove the fine roots, fertile soil, mycorrhizae and decomposed mulch from the staging area. Incorporate the material into the outer rootzone. 13. Specify that future management will keep the flare visible.

so write a proposal for full inspection, by the hour, then do it, then write results. if you do not say what you do not know you should be fine. ISA CEU Risk.pdf

Agree w David. The cherry seems to be outgrowing sunscald damage quite well; keep pruning the most rotted branches, and consider support for those too important to lose. re the malus, find the flare! it's buried under the turf somewhere. then remove as much rotten wood as you can and leave it exposed to drying. i would not think the gano will affect the crop for some tiome. maybe help the tree outgrow it.

from 4000 miles away...Xylaria? whats the assignment?

Could it also be that rosaceous mulch is fungistatic? or is that the reason?

The tools used are one thing--if saws make smaller wounds they seem preferable--but where the cuts are made is the heart of the matter: We were measuring; distance between terminal bud scars before & after the reductions on the retained growth. How far back the callous tissue had retrenched down from the cut stubs. Which orientation the stubs were cut to. i had a golden opportunity to assess this in an urban context, but only came away with rough observations. still the retrenchment seemed informative. bottom line: cutting to nodes results in more stable regrowth and better closure. AA Car Canopy.pdf

Thanks woody; good news! "Have had a talk to customer and explained how bad it is," or at least as bad as it may be... "we are going to reduce and thin out the tree" thin living branches or dead? reduce 1-2m? 2-4m? would that depend on loading and target and strength loss, based on butt/root assessments? No 1000 pound sterling airtool needed; this probe costs 20 for key info. i hear %s are out of favor per the BS standard, so i wonder how the works would be specified in the UK...

Yes that and broaden our definitions and paradigms. such as Biodiversity Planting Formula. the whole native/exotic thing is quite a blur. that and be nicer to each other; we are too few for fratricide.

who is numbering the fiddles what timeframe are you speaking of? there is a lot we do not know. guessing is ok but that is all it is. by the time a tree is a veteran, is it not naturalized, and no longer exotic?

EAB, laurel wilt, and general diagnostics. is there any program like First Detector in the UK? NPDN site

Agree that exercises help a lot more than drugs. they are bo-ring but essential. i had both operated on last 2 years and without religious rehab the benefit would be slight. Keep utilizing the largest muscles as much as possible.

Santamour was a cool guy; taught Shigo a thing or 3...

http://www.tcia.org/sites/tcia.org/files/A300Part4-LightningProtection-Draft1-Version1-2012.12.pdf This revision draft is not approved for trial, model, or sample use, or any other form of incorporation or implementation.