Burnt landscape elements

[Paul B]

I have been hired to do a report for a client that had a large residential fire across the street from him damage many of his plants. Does anyone know of any research about recovery from significant heat exposure for shrubs and trees?

 

[Paul B]

hmm, doing some googling and found a post from a long lost board (Asite) member from 1998, wonder what JPS is up to these days.

http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/plantbio/1998-August/018097.html

 

[woodworkingboy]

Paul, there has been some study into radiation damage to plants from the Chernobyl accident. Might be a completely different subject?

http://books.google.com/books?id=LE...uJmhDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3

 

[Paul B]

thanks Jay, I don't think the data would correlate to heat damage vs radioactive radiation but I will have a look at it after supper.

 

[chucky]

Sounds like a question for OM.

 

[Paul B]

oh, ok, maybe I will take him off my ignore list for a day or two to see if he has anything useful to say.

 

[thattreeguy]

how deeply burnt paul?

just foliage or all the way thru the vascular tissues?

im no expert on anything,
but my experience with fire is that the plant will regenerate with some dieback if it didnt boil all the fluids from the plants,
but if it did seperate or dry out the tissues underneath the bark, or the roots the plants are...toast

so is it heat damage or did it cook em dry?

also, what plant species?

pics?

is the homeowner willing to wait 1 season?

i ve worked jobs and seen heat damage and then theres the crispy dry critters that arent worth waiting for

 

[Paul B]

multiple species, foliage burnt in some instances, bark damage in some as well. client is feeling pressure from insurance to settle soon. I have advised to hold steady and wait, I think most plants will make it but there are some that should be replaced to make the landscape as it was before the incident.

 

[thattreeguy]

then go big
24 inch boxes accross the yard

 

[Frans]

multiple species, foliage burnt in some instances, bark damage in some as well. client is feeling pressure from insurance to settle soon. I have advised to hold steady and wait, I think most plants will make it but there are some that should be replaced to make the landscape as it was before the incident.

It would be interesting to have an in depth knowledge of exactly when a plant will die, and what species are more or less resistant to fire. But, with insurance companies involved the usual course of action is to 'make whole', and do it quickly.

Why not just remove and replace?

 

[Paul B]

some of the things are not going to be available in the nursery (not the same size at least), some of them would return to previous condition faster by being pruned and watered. Unless the unvisible damages will cause them to expire in the relatively near future which would indeed be best served by remove all and replce.

 

[treelooker]

Unless the unvisible damages will cause them to expire in the relatively near future which would indeed be best served by remove all and replce.

Well then Frans is right; write the report as a remove and replace, then the client can do it per need, right?