Arborist struggles with struggling specimen

treelooker

treelooker

Treehouser
Joined
Jul 24, 2005
Messages
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Location
NC
Just to show an arborist and a community with tolerance of compromised trees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGDCZA-tpMc
Blair does a good job w his vids imo.

Nice job showing care of an abused tree. :thumbup: The initial pruning did not conserve health but went way back to big laterals, which steepened the decline spiral. What happened to the other walnut?

At 1:02 you speak well of the battle between decay and new growth, showing burls from callus with fresh pruning wounds from sprout removal--why were these sprouts removed?

Trenching roots was one problem hard to remedy, but soil compaction and fill on the flare (evidenced by the "telephone pole" look) can be mitigated by clearing the flare and root invigoration.

If the pull test opens that crack too much, what to do?

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vGDCZA-tpMc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
1:53 "we're gonna do everything we can to prolong his life".

Why?

IMHO, if you really want to take care of this tree, just let him die peacefully until it doesn't become a real hazard.
If it has already become an hazard, then remove it.

It's always a pity to lose an old tree. Sad too.
But trees do die. I agree with Shigo when he says we must respect their dignity.

Why wasting money and time in useless treatments which can do nothing to improve the health of the tree?
If it was in a forest, no problem at all. It could have been left as a nice habitat for wildlife, insects and fungi.
It is in a urban environment so it is a completely different pair of shoes.

Remove and replant when it becomes unsafe.
Invest the money you would have wasted to prolong his agony in the care of the other young healthy trees in the surrounding area.
 
I'd like to see it leafed out too. It certainly looks ugly in the video.

It doesn't really make sense to me that they're paying him to nurse it along and at the same time stressing it further (construction and compaction).

It's ok to let things that are old die... that's a remove and replace for me too.
 
Planting a replacement would have been my first recommendation regardless of treatment. Why wait on doing so if it means that much. Start a new seedling as it seems an important tree to the community.
 
Build a hut out of the wood, place the hut next to the sign, replant a nice young tree to thrive. That ground looks like it can't get any more compact.

I've learned people really love your honesty when you tell them a tree is not worth the work done to it.
 
It spends more time looking like shite than it does looking good. Time for new life to occupy that soil.
 
I feel in the end you look like an idiot as giving them a false hope the tree will last longer. I'm all about saving trees, but ya gotta know when to give it the Stihl.
 
I'm genuinely pleased to see this much common sense expressed in the posts above, and similarly over on Arboristste where the same video was posted. I suspect the Buzz community might be more likely to coddle that tree until it has only one live twig with 4 leaves on it.
 
lil more love and compassion gentlemen and the tree will out live time.

Gnarly old cedar growing on the escarpment, Sequioa on the coast, Oak on the savannah its relative and the easy is cut it down, a humN with true sense of transfiguration will advocate for this tree.
Lose yourself!
 
I liked the presentation, and feel there are some valid points. Does the tree present a significant hazard with regards to total or component failure with a high likelihood of resultant damage? Does not appear to be the case, but it is tough to tell without hands on observation. I agree with the arborist who presents the video, observe, care and maintain. Mulch, compost, radial trenching...these things help.
 
They should either give it a lot of love, or keep people safe from it and not bother.

History is more important to some people than others. Seems older people value things from way back more than younger ones do. The tree was planted almost 130 years ago. That's a very old tree in some parts of the world.
 
Seems that some plastic surgeons would also advocate that giving 95 year old great grandmothers a facelift is also beneficial. This is like pouring parts and dropping coin into an old beater month after month. A good gig for the mechanic maybe, but hardly a sensible course of action in the long run.
 
I think our job is to present our clients with options with regards to the maintenance of the trees we are called upon to observe. I would hope that we can, as an industry, see past our lust for sawdust and fear of litigation to at least present a balanced viewpoint of all the options.
 
Im all for preserving trees. But Im also a realist. If its shot, kill it. Just like a dog. When its eyes are blurry, its deaf, cant control its bladder, and struggles to walk, you put the dog down. Even though you are attached to the dog, it has reached a point of no return.

That tree is toast. Get rid of it, yesterday. Only a crook would take money with the idea of resurrecting that tree. Either leave it alone until it becomes storm work, or deep six the poor thing and start new.
 
See, it is not a dog or human and it obviously isn't shot.
The analogy does not apply when it comes to trees.

Trees do not have a biological clock.
I am sure even if there was no money there would be plenty
who would put their name and biz name on it.
Sheet in your back yard and you lose biz especially if you condemn a significant and valuable tree.

Please, Look past the dead wood and IMAGINE
the old soldier who can still sound his trumpet!:)

back against the wall
sound out to all
never to forget
the fallen.
 
The analogy does not apply when it comes to trees.
Click to expand...

Who made that rule?

executioner_tattoo1.jpg


Kill the tree. Plant a new one. :drink:
 
Explain the situation as unbiased and realistic as you can. They want to pay you to maintain it as long as safely reasonable after that, who are we to cut down a tree that doesn't belong to us? I don't recall anyone talking about "saving" the tree. Would I pay to do what they are doing? Heck no
 
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