Advice on Saving a Nice One

[ClimbingFool]

trees that are in this situation can sometimes go in either direction. Cable and bracing or removal. If the split has been there a while and callousing has started to regenerate, it may be hard to suck it back together with out doing some considerable work in the split. I would run two through bolts if possible and cable.

However, and again in situations like this and to reflect on some of the comments, I always give the client two suggestions. Yes we can save it, but no guarantees or just remove it....This gives the client something to think about and a lot of times gets you the job either way.

 

[pigwot]

Willie,
I agree that our first responsibility is to educate a customer and let them make their decision. But if we know their decision will likely put anyone at risk it behooves us to make that very clear. That is the responsibility I was speaking of when I said such a situation "requires a very conservative assessment of risk". Except perhaps in extreme situations no one can make someone keep or remove their trees in this free society, but if a tree is a clear and present danger we are responsible to use every means available to us to assure the safety of our customers.

http://wap.myfoxdc.com/w/main/story/67680121/

 

[canadiantreeman]

I looked at a blue spruce that was perfectly healthy...if not irrigated a little heavily...earlier this year. I remember telling the clients that topping was the wrong thing to do and that save a freak storm event the tree was in no risk of tipping over. Well, that freak wind event occurred last week and tipped the spruce right over! I wonder what would have happened had that tree been topped...or maybe completely shaped up?

With regards to the white oak...I agree with rod and cable installation. I think that at least two rods and two cables would help provide additional support. Dormant season EWR fo sho! Cool tree to save.

 

[sotc]

I must be missing something... I see there is a hammock strung to that tree in the overall picture and yet there is no risk?
I see two houses in the picture; do the neighbors ever have children or grandchildren over who might play near the tree?

CYA statement are all fine and dandy, but any seriously compromised tree has to have a very conservative evaluation of risk versus its landscape/historical value before leaving it.

Now that being said, the fellow who spoke at TCI a few years ago, Erik Brudi from Germany (I think that was his name) had compelling science (okay, maybe not years of hands-on experience) that showed how proper bracing could greatly reduce the risk of failure in a tree that would otherwise be considered unsafe. Even then, the point was, there is still risk, and the question remains, "Is it acceptable?".

I have cabled and braced a ton of trees in this area. I have had to take some of those trees down after five to twenty years as they started to decline further.

I saw one of a very few failures in 33 years after that nasty storm at the end of June.
It was a mature Linden that rotted out, as Brian was suggesting could happen with this white oak. I had wanted to take it down, and in the end agreed to cable and rod-brace it. That was 25 years ago. So they got to enjoy the tree and when it did fall apart no one in their right mind was outside on account of the ferocity of the storm, so luckily no one was injured.

Be careful out there; we are the ones with the knowledge-base and that implies a fiduciary responsibility to assure the best safety of our clients.

Willie,
I agree that our first responsibility is to educate a customer and let them make their decision. But if we know their decision will likely put anyone at risk it behooves us to make that very clear. That is the responsibility I was speaking of when I said such a situation "requires a very conservative assessment of risk". Except perhaps in extreme situations no one can make someone keep or remove their trees in this free society, but if a tree is a clear and present danger we are responsible to use every means available to us to assure the safety of our customers.

http://wap.myfoxdc.com/w/main/story/67680121/

If something is an imminent, obvious hazard we do have a responsibility to tell them. If someone wants us to prune a tree that is structurally unstable I have told them the only thing we can do for them is remove the tree. If they don't want that then we are done as long as we have explained why. I am doing a risk assessment on a massive cottonwood and the owners of the tree are doing nothing. Probably cannot afford to do anything but my client (next door) is afraid of the tree and is trying to prove neglect if anything does happen.

 

[SkwerI]

I looked at a blue spruce that was perfectly healthy...if not irrigated a little heavily...earlier this year. I remember telling the clients that topping was the wrong thing to do and that save a freak storm event the tree was in no risk of tipping over. Well, that freak wind event occurred last week and tipped the spruce right over! I wonder what would have happened had that tree been topped...or maybe completely shaped up?

With regards to the white oak...I agree with rod and cable installation. I think that at least two rods and two cables would help provide additional support. Dormant season EWR fo sho! Cool tree to save.

See, Dylan? You were wrong! You should have topped that tree and then it would have been perfectly fine.

 

[Al Smith]

I never heard of knocking the top out of a blue spruce tree .Geeze would that look stupid .

They are shallow rooted though and a big wind will blow them right over .

Actually other than the Colorado mountains I've never seen one get large enough to do much damage if it did get wind tossed .

 

[vharrison]

Big rush, bigger money.

Exactly!

 

[woodworkingboy]

There are also the people that after you tell them that topping their tree will very likely kill it, they then say that they don't care. Indifference can cover all possibilities.

 

[SouthSoundTree]

I never heard of knocking the top out of a blue spruce tree .Geeze would that look stupid .

They are shallow rooted though and a big wind will blow them right over .

Actually other than the Colorado mountains I've never seen one get large enough to do much damage if it did get wind tossed .

I've got a topped Blue Spruce. It looks funky and bushy, but I don't know about stupid, not that I'm taking that comment personally.

If you could have had a powerline put on top of the topped spruce, like mine, it wouldn't look out of place .


With that windthrow prone situation, what about lateral reduction, essentially, end weight reduction but with a different purpose (overall stability versus individual stability, to my way of thinking, splitting hairs possibly. What I'm hearing, profile reduction, helps in the PNW more than 'allowing the wind to blow through the tree' with 'wind lacing'/ 'wind thinning'/ 'spiral pruning'/ typical 'wind sail reduction'.

 

[SouthSoundTree]

I wonder about having a part of the contract including you getting warning signs made that are to be maintained by the HO at "x" feet from the base of the trunk, along with the disclaimer.

 

[Al Smith]

Not to skew off on blue spruce but my son had some blue spruce shrubs .I never knew there was such a thing .Had meaning past tense ,he took the saw to them because the "boss" wanted them gone .Too bad because they looked nice .

 

[Al Smith]

This topping business on mature trees ,Tom had one last year .Great big 100 foot plus red oak the owners got made because it kept dropping acorns all over their deck .Tom figured in 5 years he'd do the rest of the take down after it was grave yard dead .

 

[Tucker943]

Sounds ethical.

 

[brendonv]

I am gathering a price to kill it.

 

[Tucker943]

Heck ya!

 

[canadiantreeman]

We used to shape spruce trees a lot in Calgary. Which basically means one reduces the overal surface area of the crown in order to turn the tree into an aesthetically pleasing geometric shape. Not exactly 'to spec,' but then again I'm sure it prevented a few trees from tipping over. Really the culprit is excessive irrigation, but tell that to a customer Lawns gots to be green, even in a desert!

 

[treelooker]

Brendon your plan sounds good, do it!

As for fiduciary responsibility for human safety, uhh, let's not overdo it. We ain't got no crystal balls.