Historic Tree Care

Our assignment, echoed by most tree owners, is to apply arboricultural approaches to maintain stability, sustain contributions, and extend longevity.

Restoration pruning follows trees’ tendencies to optimally harvest
sunlight, which along with soil improvement can produce upward
spirals of recovery.

Trees are resilient; after all, they grow in urban
soils and air, surviving damage from saws, storms, and the strains
and insults of aging and living with people.

By discovering and collaborating with trees’ abilities to sustain themselves, we can meet our challenge: To facilitate the coexistence of people and trees, one branch at a time.

News of straight-line winds causes concern. "...big challenge for pruning to reduce likelihood of storm failure. In particular, root zone failure….a 45” cottonwood cut a house in half…. In the storm we had here a month ago, 90 mph straight line winds. Derechos they call them…..Tree was sound, complete root zone failure. There were hundreds of these, mostly oak. Storm came off the lake.

Here is the neighbors now concerned about their cottonwood.
I don’t see a whole lot of reduction cuts possible without compromising the health of the tree a lot…I know you have done a lot of work, veteranizing trees and pruning old growth. What would be your suggestion for pruning to reduce root zone failure in storms on old growth cottonwoods like this?"

{Old growth? Mature, maybe...If the tree has good vitality, would cuts at the blue or orange locations, 2-3"?, probably close well, and retain sufficient green to maintain health? For optimal vitality, soil improvement would be specified.
If there were basal support issues, or very low risk tolerance, cuts could go deeper--2-4"}

Image by Phil Sale. Oak in NZ, 187 years since planting. Lots going on there!

My client in the yellow house wants the neighbors notified that they made the tree a hazard, and they will be liable if this tree fails.
No need for a site visit on this one!

Looks like they used a stump grinder to drop the grade.
?What were they thinking?
They were not thinking!

Making a 20 foot reach is not hard, if your pole saw only weighs 4 pounds.
I love carbon fiber tools!

Amputations cause failure and kill trees.

Learning resilience from the veteran trees at
Burnham Beeches, NW of London, England.

The Strength of Cellulose: How Hollow Trees Stand.