Trees and Balance

[treelooker]

Glad it's holding up. And Pel I hope you get the $ out of your investment!

Not sure I overreacted: "the remnant would be a goner in the near future and a potential hazard...Even if the entire tree remained alive and did not have the infestation, it would still have been inherently weak.
That pine would actually be able to remain longer, if the dead section were stubbed to cable to. But that would look nasty and only last about 10 years"

3 absolute statements predicting gloom, without basis. TRAQ training (I think) teaches people to avoid that kind of wild and crazy talk. And everything is a 'potential hazard' so what does that add???

 

[Pelorus]

Highly doubtful, Treelooker, re. recouping monetary investment. Cottage country....no permits /assessments / tree protection zones, etc. are required prior to whacking trees or carving out a subdivision.
Finding course interesting, nonetheless.
Instructor is Dwayne Neustaeter, who is kinda hyper!!! (in a good way - you don't fall asleep listening to him)

 

[treelooker]

Yes Dwayne is rather upbeat! You'll no doubt pick up some tricks to apply in your market, at some point or other.

Dwayne's also doing a webinar next month on training: http://www.sca-trees.org/#!sca-webinar-series/c194j

 

[NickfromWI]

Howdy folks. Time for an update! So this tree was injected with some insecticides in Oct 2015. It was injected after a few years of insane drought. Then in the past year and a half the drought continued, though we did finally have an average rain season this year.

This street is lined with Italian stone pines. All in varying degrees of death. Many are standing dead and the city hasn't intervened in getting them removed. Many we've injected and they're looking alright.

This particular tree was already under bark beetle attack (Ips beetle). It should be dead now, but the client was interested in trying to save it. I swung by yesterday- my first time seeing it after it had been injected. I can say it's doing alright. The dying side over the sidewalk has continued to decline. The side over the street still looks good. Right now, I'm chalking this up as a victory. I know that the tree isn't filling back out- and we did not expect it to. We told the lady back in oct 2015 "a year from now it could be fully dead even if we inject. at this stage in the game there's no promise that can be made!"

Here's the video. Still alive. Not awesome, but hanging in there. And jomoco, before you even say anything, client is happy and agrees that I did not oversell what I thought could happen with the tree. Her words "so far with the pruning and injection it's like $30/month to keep the tree. That's a sweet deal!"


love
nick

https://youtu.be/VZQ1oe1hUak

 

[NickfromWI]

I don't know why the link is doing that?

 

[squisher]

Wow. Looks decent. Great update Nick!

 

[pantheraba]

Cool follow-up...good to see how that has progressed. Striking the difference between the two side of the tree.

 

[MasterBlaster]

It just might make it! Remove that dead limb for sure!

 

[NickfromWI]

If you look close at the tree, they really are two different trees. The wood grain is completely separated. I've convinced myself that the sidewalk side is in no way supporting the street side of the tree.

I have a feeling if we fast forward 2-3 years, there will be NO tree left on the sidewalk side and we WILL have a full healthy tree on the street side. There's probably about $300 of pruning to do on it now. Maybe another $300 in a couple years. Then hopefully leave it alone for a decade.

 

[Jomo]

Hat's off to yu Nick!

A bit premature yet though to declare "mission accomplished" ain't it?

Think more in Ent time!

Yu young hasty whippersnapper!

Jomo

 

[JD3000]

Looks good man. Anyone else on the street having trees treated too?

I don't envy your drought and bark beetles issues for sure but we have some fun pest and disease issues out this way too.

 

[NickfromWI]

Looks good man. Anyone else on the street having trees treated too?.

Yep. There have been neighborhood meetings and all sorts of fun things going on here. Some people hired a different company to inject imidicloprid and 3 trees had trunk sprays with dinotefuron (which I don't think is even meant for bark beetles). I've injected tree-age and the neighbors love me there because I'm the only guys that's been able to save ANY trees. My goal now is to get people to inject the ones that don't look like shit yet. Only one person has had the foresight to inject while their tree looks good. Every other tree we've injected are trees that didn't start out looking so hot.

A bit premature yet though to declare "mission accomplished" ain't it?

We can't save any tree. They will all die. I possibly bought it another 18 months. In the mission of buying it an extra 18 months, mission accomplished.

 

[SeanKroll]

People will start having these for irrigation
https://www.google.com/amp/s/phys.org/news/2017-04-device-air-powered-sun.amp

 

[JD3000]

Isnt the ultimate problem there the drought and watering restriction? Mulching helping some trees conserve some water?

 

[Altissimus]

Counts a Save Nick , Good on you (or any of us) that take on the Preservation work

 

[NickfromWI]

JD Yes. The drought is the driving force behind this issue. Mulch would be a big help, but I couldn't see a good way to mulch this tree, being such a narrow strip of a parkway.


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[NickfromWI]

Counts a Save Nick , Good on you (or any of us) that take on the Preservation work

Thanks man!


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[SeanKroll]

JD Yes. The drought is the driving force behind this issue. Mulch would be a big help, but I couldn't see a good way to mulch this tree, being such a narrow strip of a parkway.


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Wooden wall 4" tall, 2x8 half way in/half way out of soil, cut around surface roots???

 

[kevin bingham]

I have thought about the same thing Nick. My feeling is that other than wind break, one side is doing nothing to hold the other side up. There will be no difference to the stability of the other side by removing the dead side. Any structural difference that could be found could possibly be in the way the anchor roots have grown, but I find that to be a stretch as well. My vote is, no the live side will not be more likely to fall over because you remove the dead side. Not saying it will look amazing but...

 

[kevin bingham]

As for tree preservation Jomo, I think its important to talk in customer years not tree years. The tree is there for the pleasure of the owner. Replacing a tree of any size won't occur during the homeowners life. If you can squeeze to another few years for a customer in a relationship with their tree, than its a win! Imagine if a vet could squeeze out a few more years for a cat or a dog! But, not everyone has an emotional attachment to their trees. A am thankful for the ones that do.