treeseer

Very good point, and salient to the ash/chalara issue. Slash and burn is a policy we condemn in the tropics, yet carry out in our own communities, crazy. Nice work showing detail in paxillus and the other. How does this affect prognosis and treatment--how differently do these fungi act? Nice work also pruning and documenting the walnut work. The first reaction might be "O No, too much off the top!" Yet note the sap risers left, and look ahead to the release of buds on the now-bare branches. How soon will the owner have you back to thin the sprouts and restore structure? 3 years, 5? In the US I'm told "Well if you prune it like that you MUST be back to manage sprouts regularly, perhaps annually." This wild conjecture seems based on fear and loathing of sprouts, on the same order as fear and loathing of disease and wood decay fungi, and for the same reason--lack of familiarity. (which is a nice way of stating what is, literally, ignorance.) My response is, if there is no return treatment, the tree will still be far better off than if it was not reduced, because it would likely have failed. The scenario of long epicormics catastrophically failing decades after reduction is impossible in some older trees, and very unlikely in most others. Just one return visit 5-10 years later to sort out the codoms and sprawlers will suffice for most trees. If we do not agree with everything that goes on in the industry, we need to do something about it. There is a need for info that is far greater than any personal feelings or agendas. Our responsibilities to healthy tree systems far outweigh the concerns of individual bipeds. Carry on!

Access to a mallet may be enough; see Schwarze 2008, acoustic testing can give reliable results. No mention of Merip on plane in either book i could find; speaks to plane's extraordinary resistance.

I still call it hypoxylon small h. All respect to Mr/s. Kretzschmar. Note the black knobbly stuff shows the advanced stage of the rot, but it is in the sinuses and no tso much in the supporting wood. In another location, reduction and monitoring and even guying may be apropo. Over a road, retention is a harder sell. I subbed a maple with that knobbly stuff to a friend, telling him to rig using adjacent trees. He opted not to, and cut one side off. Then he climbed out the other side, and his weight alone caused the entire tree to uproot. He and the tree bounced off a roof and hit the ground. Full recovery thank god but he is now quite aware of the black knobbly stuff in any tree.

no pix, ab

Mystery mushroom sprouts in tree, do you know what it is? Quite a challenge to ID, for one who is not a gill expert.

.bartlett.com/resources/Stem-Girdling-Roots.pdf Thin crown to compensate for root loss, hmmm "Thanks for the links Guy, particularly found the last one good reading." The TCI magazine piece? Thanks; that was not really reviewed much at all. Lack of review often = better more logical flow and smoother. "Has ANSI Z60 been updated yet to include root pruning at the nursery stage ? no update of their 2004 standard is underway that i know of. In 1.7 page 20 (free download) there are 3 "shall"s re no girdling roots in pots, but in reality there are millions that are strangling themselves. for sale at bigbox stores and garden centers.

James, having hung out a little in oz and england recently i think there's a lot more in common w the usa than different...but they are different! sean's view might differ more temporally than regionally--he and i may compare the past 7 years to the 4-5 previous 7-year periods in the tree racket, and not see much change. shorter timeframe would enhance significance, orsomethinglikethat. but we're not so jaded that we are not occasionally stunned by the ease with which some of our colleagues say fell. if i may speak for the hon. mr. freeman...

David, I did not knwo that dr. bruce ever wrote anything on sgr's; could you link that? here's the earlier verison of mine, written for arbos. and a nice piece by costello et al on adv roots. yes all the sgr's in your pics are nobrainers to prune. Nature might take care of it in a "survival of the fittest" kind of way when the swelling buttress breaks them, but she is not 100% effective at this, and it seem sonly fair to give her some help. re external standards, i tried to get sgr pruning into the us pruning standard, but the decision was made to write a separate standard for root mgt. here's a taste of what will go out for a 2nd public review; NOT official: 84.3 Selective root pruning 84.3.1 The size and location of roots to be pruned shall be specified. 84.3.2 Roots should be exposed using the least injurious excavation method prior to pruning. 84.3.3 A pruning cut that removes a root at its point of origin should not cut into the trunk or parent root. 84.3.4 Smaller pruning cuts shall be preferred. 84.3.5 The final cut should result in a flat surface with adjacent bark firmly attached. 84.4 Selective root pruning – girdling roots 84.4.1 Roots that encircle or girdle the trunk or a buttress root should be considered for redirecting or pruning. 84.4.2 Girdling roots should be EXPOSED before pruning cuts are planned or made. 84.4.3 Retention shall be considered for roots contacting the trunk that provide more benefit than damage. 84.4.4 Roots that cross other roots should be retained. 84.4.5 The trunk and buttress roots shall not be damaged beyond the scope of the work 84.4.6 If more than one large girdling root is present, root pruning over a time period should be considered. 84.4.7 Root pruning tools shall include, but are not limited to: hand saws, lopping shears, chisels, hand shears, chain saws, reciprocating saws or circular saws. Annex D-1 – Managing trunks, flares, and roots affected by fill: Sample specifications for RCX (root collar examination) with hand tools (This annex will not be considered part of the ANSI A300 Part 8 standard.) Scope: Trees with fill contacting the trunk. Objective: Mitigate tree damage from the effects of fill on the trunk. Specifications: 1. Rake any coarse woody debris or fresh mulch away from the root collar area. Select tools to avoid root and trunk damage. 2. If a shovel or trowel is used, press the blade 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 and stem-girdling roots as needed. 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. Repeat until trunk and flare are clear, out to the root collar, where buttress roots divide. Use smaller hand tools, vacuum, or compressed water or air, to complete the excavation. 7. Separate and dispose of any infertile soil and debris. Retain the fertile soil, fine roots, mycorrhizae, and decomposed mulch. 8. Commence the RCX (root collar examination). 9. Consider replanting the tree, if the flare is over 2” (5 cm) below grade. 10. Remove soil and fine roots outside of the root collar to make a gradual slope. 11. Consider installing a device to control erosion. 12. Apply 2-4” (5-10 cm) of mulch over the root collar. Avoid mulch contact with the flare. 13. Remove the fine roots, fertile soil, mycorrhizae and decomposed mulch from the staging area. Incorporate the material into the outer rootzone. 14. Specify that future management will keep the flare visible. Root Pruning TCI.pdf sgr watson 1990.pdf adventitious roots costello.pdf

That is unusual, up on the trunk, but not unheard of here. Was there maybe heartwood exposed there? Here's a few on q alba, aged 2-400 yrs old. Gf was unnervingly common in this stand; maybe 1/3 were sporting conks.

That is unusual, up on the trunk, but not unheard of here. Was there maybe heartwood exposed there? Here's a few on q alba, aged 2-400 yrs old. Gf was unnervingly common in this stand; maybe 1/3 were sporting conks.

James, the intent was to demonstrate why documenting strengths along with weaknesses is essential to do. Yet most reports i see are all about dfects. Hagwumps are wumps on a hag, of course.

I wonder, the girdling root is clearly affecting stem growth/vascular function, but would it have grafted to the stem in time. " this is species-specific; beech being in the middle somewhere. overall best to remove before grafting. "And further nourished the stem allowing it to continue with good biological function and incremental growth. Also there would then be no wounds, for example, for armillaria to exploit; where the resources in that area of trunk are currently lacking. these wounds tend to close fast. "Perhaps some scoring in the 'root:stem interface groove' (good term hey? You heard it here first!) where the root runs along the stem would encourage wound wood, with more meristematic tissues. where the root has been removed, this "scarification" aka removal of bark compacted by girdling root can allow cambial/phloem expansion, can achieve the purpose. "Therefore more likely to graft, maybe? Perhaps done along half the length of the rsig one year, and the other half when/if grafting occurs. where the root is beginning to graft, yes this may speed grafting; have a few experiments like this in the field aka my back yard. David, this is common practice over here; looks well done there but could have gone after a few with the chisel a bit harder, though the results of that are not pretty, and good to be cautious about breaking grafts. attached is an early stab at howto; supeerior minds reviewed it, fwiw. Nice job on your part, starting at the top and working your way down. LBG III Managing Stem-Girdling Roots1.doc.pdf

hagwumps ISA CEU Basic Tree Risk Assessment complete.pdf

"...Very, very true one of the most frustrating things is to find a report which does not clearly define the scope and limitations nor the methodology...making it almost impossible to determine why the previous author reached the conclusions they did." Most maddening is a lack of knowledge about thresholds, for opinions that are volunteered, not specifically assigned. "... many tree owners/managers will have a sense of what they hope/want their tree to provide in the way of aesthetic value and this can often be to the detriment of the tree itself - over fertilizing comes to mind." the 2 big companies here are still centered on tree care that comes out of a bag "However we have to make a start and try to move our industry away from that witch hunt." i just reread the attached attempt to do just this, from 7 years ago. Can you tell me where the (amateur) author fell short in conveying a balanced approach? Too timid? too loud? lack of graphic support? deaf audience that does not want to work hard or get hands dirty? lack of clarity? In the BMP, "basic tree risk assessment" adds inspection of strengths as an afterthought almost, and resists telling inspectors that they should even ID the fungi, never mind sussing it out. Lots of resistance from corporate interests on this. your most incisive comments -destructive and reconstructive--are welcome--this needs to be laid bare and regrown stronger.

ah now you've done it; coated your keyboard with spores and infected your computer!

Reduction prune? Brace rod?

That hornbeam is just begging for some support, aka a cable...

David yes I had to consult the dictionary on that one; not in my vernacular. and thanks for the confirmation on that ugly thing's ID. Thanks Sean; balanced and proportionate is hard to come by, even with the wording in the BMP about looking for adaptive growth. The way assessment is often taught, it turns into a witch hunt for defects. This case will heat up if the agency agrees to my clients' proposal for a 3-way arborist meeting to resolve differences. the pix suck for resolution but i am reduced to emailing from my iphone at <200 kb size so they pop into the report without resizing or overloading the doc. technodinosaur here. anyway glad they help tell the story. I concluded with "After reviewing the two other reports, I believe that the differences are fundamentally due to the scope of the assignments, and the protocols, thresholds and methods followed during the assessments." and took out {the phrase "This is rather discomforting and unprofessional} of Schwarze's that might have roiled defensiveness. You of all people should underrstand the effort that restraint took! dam hard work that, when gratification is o so appealing...as for "pretty thoughful" (haha i know what you meean), the notes get fleshed out in the report, which must be held back for now. re the decline issue, I hope the Decline mis-term is in place, after the June dendro piece. It was nice to contact and refer to Ted Green's work on that one. “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. A simplification can be used to explain how the white rot fungus Inonotus can breach reaction zones in a London plane, but on the basis of this simplification a reader may classify this fungus as extremely hazardous on that post, although under normal circumstances the London plane can fully come part meant allies TK. Thus, a person who apply simplification's but does not understand the facts behind it, will probably err on the side of caution. Infected trees will be condemned although they could be retained... There appears to be a trend in tree risk assessment to substitute information on wood anatomy and host fungus associations with quick and simple measurements using invasive diagnostic techniques. {This is rather discomforting and unprofessional, as} arborist should take pride in the fact that both trees and wood decay fungi are two complex organisms, and the decision whether to retain or condemn a tree has far-reaching consequences for the urban environment. Trees have evolved over millions of years to become incredibly efficient and powerful at withdrawing carbon from the atmosphere, which is precisely the role that we need right now in cities or carbon is produced abundantly. It is a tragedy that we are not taking advantage of what could be potentially our most powerful partner in the fight against climate change. We need to be planting trees and maintaining them by the billion. Trees are effective carbon sinks while they remain alive and the wood is sound. After all, any carbon that is held in the world of the tree is carbon that is not contributing to the problem of global warming. Trees can hold onto carbon for thousands of years. Ultimately, we are all dependent on trees had other plans to mediate the suns energy, to cool our planet, and to maintain healthy ecosystems. 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.” (Schwarze 2008)"

Back to the topic, here's an ugly old conk in early october that sits where a young inonotus dryadeus conk was ID'd in August; basically a creamy colored glob with brownish/amber droplets from guttation(?). A probe went 24" in where the diameter was measured-unconfirmed- at 55". A reduction in height and load and lean was specified;~15% with cuts <10cm. Other reports said decay could not be stopped, and it will fall someday, and we dunno where or when, ergo felling recommended.

I've read some of Ferrini's work with those trees; they sound remarkable. If you want to catch Fay 3 days prior, head for Hong Kong. IASHK: International Arboriculture Summit - Hong Kong

Pruning roots in general early fall is good, that's half from reading and half from doing. The way walnut leaves abscise, maybe they can be pruned with leaves in color and not yet off. of course the smaller the cut the better, etc.

sloth you might then want to start a glossary of terms that are new to you, to give clues on what is being said. My list was quite a long one, despite some familiarity with Latin and Greek...in any case, enjoy it!

Agree with new cable and pruning; i would use steel. We mortals cannot guess teh future for that tree, and risk being liars if we try.

I agree with Allin about the general differences. David is quite righat about digesting both; tall order. Fungal Strategies is more of a brain-burner; :confused1:read it 4 times during a graduate project 10 years ago and kinda understood most of it before reviewing it for the ISA journal. Diagnosis is more accessible, and I use it a lot more for reports, recently checking I dryadeus mgt, for which it gave key info. Which to get? depends on your objective. i love FSWDT but i'd say for most arbs the big green book is worth the extra expense.

Don't believe the hype generated by the newspapers