The Official Work Pictures Thread

Did a hazard dead and storm damage removal from a stately old Western White Oak today, Quercus garryana.
Last winter storm just mashed tops down and broke stuff. Sad a huge portion of the top in the center was broke out. Nice tree though, with some interesting grafting. Some of the limbs could have been trees. About 48" DBH. Not real tall, but about 80' of spread. Before.... IMG_0293.JPG IMG_0294.JPG IMG_0295.JPG IMG_0296.JPG IMG_0297.JPG IMG_0298.JPG
 
I am actually. A large blue oak. Two limbs rubbing but looks like they had try to start a graft. Really could not lose one or the other with out weakening the compaion limb. I bolted them together, reduction prune and cabled the larger holding them both since they are directly over the roof. See how she fairs in 5 years.
 
I did not do a full cleaning/prune. Just hazard dead, hangers and the storm breakage. A proper prune would make this tree shine. I figure it should sit for a couple years anyway since so much of the canopy broke with that wet snow and high winds we had. No leaves on it when it took the hit as well.
So let some of the new growth establish itself. Sort some of that out and maybe reduce some stuff I left this visit. More pruning now would just promote more epicormic growth at this stage. Told him he could at least put a swing and picnic table out there now and feel secure relaxing under it.
 
What’s the SOP with mistletoe on the Oregon oaks etc out there? Some of them look wicked laden with it.
 
Sven, i remove it. If the tree is stressed, it can over take the tree. It will cause break outs from it sheer weight. It can cause embolism in the trees capilary system causing it to die of thirst and starvation. It releases a hormone telling the tree to drink no matter drought conditions. This introduces air into the cells halting capillary action causing the embolism.
If the mistletoe dies out, it rots out leaving large hollow weak spots in limbs and stems. A place where the tree can fail.
If the tree is healthy, it can sometime handle the infestation, if not too bad, by compartmentaizing around the mistletoe root and cutting off the water supply. Tree will often sacrifice a limb in doing so.
These are some of my observations and learnings, thus far in 15 years.
 
Yes. It's an added stressor. I try to charge for it.

I've had to go back and reclean a garage and wash some walls... God forbid a bad Yelp review.
 
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