q. lobata, valley oak

treesandsurf · Mar 16, 2009

Here's a tree we worked on today. Did a RC excavation in the morning and went down more than two feet. They are going to need to change grade as this thing has been buried for a long time :cry:

. It really shows in the canopy.

Deadwooded everything >4"; careful not to remove very much live wood from the canopy.

treesandsurf · Mar 16, 2009

There was so much deadwood in the top that there were very few good tie in points. Some tricky re-di work

.

MasterBlaster · Mar 16, 2009

Cool. I hardly ever get to trim nowadays.

Blinky · Mar 16, 2009

Definitely worth trying to save. It's got character.

CurSedVoyce · Mar 16, 2009

I am surprised to see that it is not dead yet. Maybe they are just more sensitive here. They don't seem to hold up very long after a tractor or grader pushes dirt up around them.

Blinky · Mar 16, 2009

MasterBlaster said:
Cool. I hardly ever get to trim nowadays.

Same here... I get a fair amount of ornamental and fruit tree pruning but the 100' oaks and sycs are few and far between.

treesandsurf · Mar 16, 2009

While we are on the topic of RC exams... here's a couple from several weeks ago.

These are q. lobata as well --> heavy leaners towards dwellings and wanted to see if/how bad the root collars looked. All in all we only condemned one of the trees that had bark slipping off the trunk.

Dave Shepard · Mar 16, 2009

Buried trees is one of my pet peeves, especially when they build a little stone wall well about a foot away from the trunk. Do you have an air spade, or all hand work?

treesandsurf · Mar 16, 2009

Wow, you guys are quick. Here's a photo of the condemned. But the funding dropped out shortly after I did my inspections so the tree might stay for a while.

treesandsurf · Mar 16, 2009

Dave Shepard said:
Do you have an air spade, or all hand work?

Wish I had the air spade but do them all by hand for now :whine:

.

jp

SkwerI · Mar 16, 2009

Yup, don't need a root excavation to see that one needs to go. :lol:

Mr. Sir · Mar 16, 2009

Wow, that's a lot of fill on that first tree. Are you sure it's not already dead? What I mean is, they can live for years on starch reserves in the wood while in reality little or nothing is being replaced.

treesandsurf · Mar 16, 2009

Good point Mr. Sir; when I was in the canopy even the live wood felt very brittle and the smaller stuff would break very very easily when stepping on or running a rope over. It was sort of an eery climb. But it pushes out leaves and there is live growth so I think it's worth it to try to do what we can this late in the game. We'll have to wait and see.

jp

NickfromWI · Mar 16, 2009

Some of the most beautiful trees in the LA area are valley oaks. I love climbing them.

Nice work. I hope it lasts many more years!

love
nick

sotc · Mar 16, 2009

wish i could get more of that type of work here, i nearly always learn something when i do one

Old Monkey · Mar 16, 2009

Treesandsurf, where are you working now? That looked very Northern California-esque.

sotc · Mar 16, 2009

q. lobata, must be sacramento valley or nearby

treesandsurf · Mar 17, 2009

Old Monkey said:
Treesandsurf, where are you working now? That looked very Northern California-esque.

I'm in Calistoga now, and all those pics are in the area (within twenty miles or so). Will be back on Oahu next week though.

jp

Treevet · Mar 17, 2009

How about a spray rig. Hydraulic excavation may have some beneficial edges over pneumatic.

("Do them all by hand now")

TC3 · Mar 17, 2009

Wonderful pix !
Vertical trenching can be done by hand, too, and would help tremendously.
Not to be a kill-joy, but I've done a few large oaks like that with poor outcomes.
The up-swing for your oak is that it's on an island instead of next to a house & the soil won't be as badly compacted.

Frans · Mar 17, 2009

Take a close look at the surrounding areas of this tree. After the construction of the roads, (I am assuming the tree was there BEFORE the roads were built) The tree is now located within a drainage area. Not a normal place for a mature oak which has less ability to withstand less than optimal growing conditions.

Doing a root crown excavation IMO will have little effect in the long term. Might make the owners feel better, and line your pocket, but the tree is on it's way out.

It is out of the question to re-direct the roads and do a massive re-building of the surrounding grade, so I don't see any real 'fix' for this tree.

Have you informed the owners of this?

Mr. Sir · Mar 17, 2009

Excuse me Frans, but you are doing exactly the thing you cautioned against in another thread. You are giving your opinion without possessing all of the relative facts. You're making assumptions based on a single photograph. :what:

treesandsurf · Mar 17, 2009

Actually, Frans does make a great point. The area was changed dramatically I'm assuming when the road was installed.

I'm supposed to talk to the owner today.

jp

Mr. Sir · Mar 17, 2009

MY point was that Frans warned against making assumptions without facts. I agree with that. :/:

Frans · Mar 18, 2009

MY point was that Frans warned against making assumptions without facts. I agree with that.

Yes, but that photo was taken in an area I live in, a fairly accurate description was given with substantiated photos, and this is a computer/ web based forum of opinion and discussion.

Am I correct?

q. lobata, valley oak

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