treeseer

If aesthetic value is preferred, why not take some weight off the end and brace the crack with a bolt?

Langur is right; check for sticky droplets on branches. Also yes could be Plant Amnest speaks out against Shear Madness! there is more than one way to deal with it naturally, besides not being so tight on the clip. That is to make thinning cuts as well, every 2nd or 3rd shear at least. Yes more time and therefore money, but essential for healthy plants. Because shearing is non-selective heading, you will stimulate bushy regrowth. You create a twiggy outer shell on sheared plants. This layer of twigs shades out the interior, which then becomes leafless and full of dead leaves and dead wood. Meanwhile the outer shell becomes thicker and larger every year because, as it is sheared repeatedly, it must be cut a little farther out to retain its greenery. This dense, twiggy outer shell makes size reduction difficult because cutting back too far exposes that ugly dead zone inside the shrub. It is also physically difficult to cut through the thick twiggy mass. Although most plants will eventually green back up when they are pruned back into the dead zone, but as you now know, the needled evergreens, such as junipers, won't. Therefore, shearing is not a good way to control the size of a shrub. Selective pruning utilizing the thinning cut ensures that there will be a green twig or branch to cut back to and can therefore be employed to reduce a shrub's size while retaining its natural look.

Tony, my purpose isn't to make points like lines in the sand to debate but rather to explore areas of common agreement with folks who do similar work. Refining my understanding based on others' thought and experience is what I'm after. The "points" in the article such as they are can be found in the paragraphs. Started them with R's because many of the words do. The only specific response to the Retrenchment bit was from a bloke who wanted attribution for the "coinage" of the term to go to a friend who mentioned it at a pub. Okaaayyyyy... It's in American English so somewhat understandable i hope. You're right it could be more focused, but that is a work in progress, which is why I seek the example and experience of others.... Like an after shot of your beech reduction!

"prefer for language accuracy that decay be replaced with "dysfunction" mainly because it is a miss perception and continues the false impression that CODIT is about the compartmentalisation of decay, which it is not. An updated version would see this now called CODIT as the "compartmentalisation of DYSFUNCTION in trees" as oposed to the old model including the "demonic" D for decay. " Tony I'll agree that decay is misperceived as Demonic. As for what the D should stand for, Gilman cites Rayner and the rest in citing Dryness as the chief agent of Dysfunction, which is itself rather hard to define. We could also call the D Damage, or Dessication, but since Decay is the agent that causes wood not to be wood anymore, its Demonic status is not all that ridiculously exaggerated, in some contexts. Like you, I'm happy to work with and retain some heavily decayed trees. Recalling the parable about the 5 blind guys who tried to identify an elephant by pawing pachydermal parts: Q: How is a gullible young arborist assessing a hollow tree based on drilling its trunk like an old blind man assessing an elephant based on touching its trunk? A: One calls it a snake, the other calls it a removal, but they both call it wrong. "secondly, epicormic from bark as opposed to nodes is not strictly less stable, ..." Stronger sprouting arises at nodes, from dormant buds that lay waiting. These were originally accessory buds, formed when the terminal bud was set at the end of a one-year old twig. Dormant buds are carried out in the cambium as the branch expands, still connected to the core by pith trails, sometimes called bud traces. These pith trails are held fast by compacted xylem in the core of the tree, providing for the new sprout a thin but very real structural attachment to the tree's core. That's why growth from dormant buds is technically speaking endocormic (inside the core) rather than epicormic (outside the core). As a climbing arborist, I do not think you will doubt the strength of wood fibers! Anything else in there worth reviewing?

Don't want to derail here but windowing is not a bad goal--beats a hard reduction to gain vertical view clearance! one view of this from oz. https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=1334840423039326&mt=application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D0f8c96c720%26view%3Datt%26th%3D1334840423039326%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26realattid%3Df_gu93spk30%26zw&sig=AHIEtbScZka1kxXoXq9ij_INVPRzHfWacg o and thanks for the kind words re that post; the best "parts" were written by others though, i was just the messenger.

Totally agree here; this 3rd edition is much improved over the 2nd, and the amazon price is a good one. if cost is a huge issue, maybe someone who just got the 3rd edition will give you their 2nd for a song.

Enjoy Romford; take all the time you like. Attached is the context; nothing new. restore_2010_06.pdf

No i was not fishing; common names can mislead but that uncommon name Goldpearl did that and more! i will strive to be more factual in the future; it was just so pretty i got excited.

4 questions machine-gunned; shoulda looked at your sig line about Reactions! Internodal sprouting is not as stable or efficient as sprouting at nodes, from what I've observed in oaks anyway. Nodal sprouting at or near the cut promotes closure and lessens decay; typically a good thing for the tree. Retrenchment first referred to retreating soldiers finding a line they could defend, and digging in to fight anew. This concept relates very well to declining trees, so “Before cutting any branches to reduce the size of the canopy, visualize the new canopy outline. The objective is to make reduction cuts so that branch tips are left intact on the new, smaller canopy…Sometimes as little as a 3 to 6 feet (1-2m) reduction in height can add a great amount of stability to a large tree”, for trees with strength loss at the base. This effect is confirmed by thousands of Tree Statics tests in Europe and, recently, in North America. Older trees strain to pull water to their periphery: “Water and minerals are transported tangentially through intervascular pitting, vessel distribution and vessel diameter. Movement of water and nutrients through pathways is affected by pressure; pits will close if pressure drops”. Retrenchment makes more water available and redirects growth to a lower, consolidated crown. This pruning also redirects hormonal growth regulation, often resulting in reiteration and rejuvenation. This process has been likened to a king being overthrown, allowing the rise of several dukes and earls. Reiteration is any shoot that repeats the basic form of the tree. Like new stems arising from stumps, reiterations in the crown are often extremely vigorous, so they make logical targets to cut a branch back to. However, when they arise perpendicular to the parent branch, their structural stability may be compromised. Cuts at right angles can also result in a “hollow elbow” type of decay, so cutting at the next good node may be better. A reduction in diameter indicating a node can be felt more than seen, so running both hands along the branch is a vital step in understanding what to do with it. Dr. Shigo’s mantra, “Trees must be touched to be understood,” is too often forgotten today. Trees are living entities, so we can feel for more than form with our manual examination. Repairing internal function is the goal of our work with damaged trees; restored shape is just a sign of renewed health. Form follows function, as other artists know. What other signs of tree health can we sense, to guide our work? Thermal images show concentrations of heat in trees, which may indicate internal functioning. Rejuvenation of a tree’s physiology slows down, or even reverses, its aging clock. This is best seen in trees that grow on stressful environments, like mountaintops. Among trees, adversity promotes longevity. Damage can enhance dignity. "Pruning does it by inducing the growth of younger meristems, shortening the internal transport path, and balancing shoot load and activity with limited root activity and support. In trees, physiological and developmental aging operate independently. They can be simultaneously embryonic and senile, resulting in a form of ecological immortality. It is this potential for immortality that makes trees so fascinating to work with." OK?

No good when ya trust em and they turn on ya like that. Typically it's good to get it in writing but I skip that step at times and have got stuck like that--ruins the day it does. Tony maybe we are using terms differently, but in what i call retrenchment pruning i would typically only want to see sprouts at nodes. some of those nodes may have no laterals at present however, as they were previously shed... but yeah sometimes internodal growth response is a whole lot better than none.

David, I hope your misery has abated; I know nowt. Goldpearl I just made up. Yes there was a blush spreading; i'll try to find and repic.

This was done manually, in 3 spins around the trunk. Air/water tool would have been nice. Another company had condemned it based on mid-trunk drilling and tomography. No Rx without an RCX! Pics show 1 root outside the cavity being measured, to monitor growth over time, 2, sterile compacted old mulch 2" thick found under 3" of fresher mulch, and 3 slabs of that old mulch stacked next to area aerated and re-mulched, lightly.

Looks like you did the very best with a bad situation--nice work! Was the bracing digging in yet? That's the issue with dynamic/cobra; high maintenance compared to steel. Glad to see the heavy reduction was not done; the rot would likely have gone wild, and the tree would have been ugly forever, and high maintenance. Q rubra common where I come from; dying out in its native range from root rot. Acidification of the atmosphere and thereby the soil is blamed. they tend to single leader; that one must have been whacked early. Those features in the leaders--bulges and ridges etc.-- look more like adaptive growth, signs of reinforcement rather than failure. from x,000 miles away anyway... 6+ cubic meters of roots dug--disastrous wounding and loss--TPO should include the bottom half of the tree too! re introducing compatible mycorrhizae, one idea is to spread chips under the same tree. Topping off the mulch can be overdone--attached pics show slabs of sterile old mulch exhumed after it smothered roots below. no that would be a derail; i'll start another thread. Looks good in the end--thanks for putting up the pics!

I'm totally in agreement. So we need to systematically assess both formal research and other experience, recognizing the limitations of both.

The orange rib does look like positive adaptive growth, but that black bumpy stuff at the top needs a look; maybe poke around in there and see what's up with it.

"beech are naturaly very shallow rooted in old age their heart rooted natures have long ceased, much of the time meripilus simply lives on the old root system that is no longer functional, it is only later and increasingly under stress conditions (compaction) that the fungi must move into living tissues and become the enemy we so far understand it to be." ... As for diagnosis being dependent on research, I wonder. ... ['Every piece of information in the quoted text is the result of research! Without research we would have no information on which to base a diagnosis, so I don't understand your doubt.] We better call in that semantics expert then--does your definition of research include only formal controlled studies, or does it include less formal but quite valid types of science? Research is only one aspect of science. “Science” includes observation, description, analysis, study, review and identification; functions that all human minds employ every day to gain knowledge. I'll respectfully suggest that {Loss of leaves = Loss of ability to photosynthesize and feed the tree system} obvious though it may seem, is an oversimplification. It's been repeated far more often than its scientific basis can support. Keep in mind that a reduction pruning will greatly reduce the energy needed to feed the system, by shortening distances and lessening ramifications (forks) for the energy to flow through. So how can we know that pruning is always reducing the trees ability to feed with the reduction, so adding to its problems?? Photosynthesis is not working full tilt all the time, and formerly sheltered leaves will photosynthesize more with the suppressing foliage gone, and turgor pressure increased after the less productive outer portions. Common sense, explained well by Shigo et al. The assumption that {Loss of leaves = Loss of ability to photosynthesize and feed the tree system} is not supported by formal research that I am aware of. Frankly, it's sounding like a myth that can feed paranoia. Many informal observations and analyses over time support Tony's point that reduction can rejuvenate a tree, while reducing lever arms and load and risk. If you want to hear that from a researcher at Harvard U, "Rejuvenation of a tree’s physiology slows down its aging clock. This is best seen in trees that grow on stressful environments, like mountaintops. Among trees, adversity promotes longevity. Pruning does it by inducing the growth of younger meristems, shortening the internal transport path, and balancing shoot load and activity with limited root activity and support. In trees, physiological and developmental aging operate independently. They can be simultaneously embryonic and senile, resulting in a form of ecological immortality. It is this potential for immortality that makes trees so fascinating to work with." ... "...the consequences of making the wrong call can be huge." And the consequences of making the right call are huge as well. Liability is something we have to deal with, preferably in a proactive and constructive fashion based on experience rather than a reactive and destructive fashion based on questionable hypotheses like {Loss of leaves = Loss of ability to photosynthesize and feed the tree system}. it's a challenge to find a tree management path between rosy-colored overoptimism and paranoia. I've been guilty of both. We can only find a balanced view with balanced inputs. Science and Research Kane discussion.doc

my favorite of all, visually. and a decent image off of an iphone.

"beech are naturaly very shallow rooted in old age their heart rooted natures have long ceased, much of the time meripilus simply lives on the old root system that is no longer functional, it is only later and increasingly under stress conditions (compaction) that the fungi must move into living tissues and become the enemy we so far understand it to be." Very well put. If the fungi can be compartmentalized or otherwise become latent, or feeding off shed parts, at those times it is not a pathogen. It seems to me that if the arborist is to feel duty-bound to disclose the possibility of pathogenicity, one must also disclose these other stages as well, eh? As for diagnosis being dependent on research, I wonder. There may be more risk of conclusions from research being misapplied, than diagnosis going wanting for the lack of formal studies. The info from the tree in question has to rank highest, if the analysis is reasonable. Lovely pictures, David.

I hope we can go one better than blindly serving customers' wishes. Those wishes re trees are oft underinformed, dead wrong. A customer becomes a client when there is interaction at the planning stage. Then the tree cutter becomes an arborist, managing assets instead of merely removing perceived liabilities. re Trees doing well in cities without arborists' care, that's seldom true.

Perhaps only to be opened in well ventilated areas, like some chemical containers... i got 3 issues at arborcamp and thought the content was quite good. no smell perceived; rain must've washed it away.

i think the nash stuff indoors is gone september; don't miss it! sorry the polish wore off the Polish connection there, pb, but you can make $ next month renting floor space. Well told initiative on that removal. roots must have been feeble, cmon... I can recommend silkyfox for his energy (obvious), attention to safety and detail, and interest in providing the best treatment for the trees!

could be living wood?

Agree with above, from a SE US view. it may be more aggressive here, but I've seen, and managed, trees ringed round with conks. The gradual pruning approach sounds reasonable, and I agree that smooth cuts to concentrations of vitality make sense.

Yes, writing size of cut, length of branches and % removed, from which side of tree, easy enough to put on an estimate. hama when you do return, the regrowth will be of interest, but more telling will be 1 signs of sunscald, 2 wound closure, 3 position of sprouts--internodal or nodal, growing wildly or efficiently. Green leaves are nice, but sound wood is key, unless the assignment is to increase habitat for fungi.