Crown Restoration:Before & After

[Redbull]

Here's the before pics of an Elm tree that was damaged by ice several years ago and then topped. Then it was damaged again this winter.

 

[Redbull]

Here's the after pics. Let the constructive criticism fly. As you can see in the before pics, I didn't have much to work with.

 

[Stumper]

Nasty old elms. Kudos for trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's turd.

 

[treeseer]

I didn't have much to work with.

THat's for sure. On my 17" screen, it looks like good work to me. TreeCo and I restored a red maple in Richmond last fall; we had more to work with but we did the same basic thing.
Two things:

The rotting stubs we cut away as much as possible without breaking callus or definite boundaries. -> water runoff, more air circ to decay, better chance to get a handle on how big the cavities are. One limb was 90%+ rotted, so we had to leave it cableed up and planted stuff under it to keep targets away.

If it's a high-wind area, some tip reduction may prevent future breakage. Can't see form the pics if you did much of that.

Overall I'd shoot for leaving more branches, even if they had to come off later, trying not to exceed 20-30% live crown off per pruning, if this elm is pretty vigorous. On this kind of pruning you want to get a commitment to reprune in a couple-few years.
This is not "******* out" the job, it's the best way to leave them a longterm asset. What are you doing for the roots?

 

[jkrueger]

Sorry, did not like your cuts and where you did them. Guess, it is accepted on this site from what I read by the others like your self. It was a honorable attempt and not high standards for me.

Jack
(master pruner)

 

[Redbull]

The woman I did this for is in her late 70's. I told her that I could prolong the life of the tree instead of removing it completely, but made sure she was aware that the tree was in a steady decline. She just wants it to last until she's gone. There are no targets so if part of the tree fails, there won't be any property damage. I removed a little more than I would have liked to, but of the live stuff that I did remove either had a weak union, was decayed, or was rubbing on another limb. The one thing I should have done differently is bring the tips back a little to decrease wind resistance like Treeseer mentioned above. All in all, the customer was happy, the tree should make it a few mor years, and I had fun!
PS: As far as roots go, what were you referring to. There were no girdled, or exposed roots if that's what you mean.

 

[Redbull]

What would you have recommended Mr. Krueger? Please share. I posted this in hopes I could stir some criticism and learn something. Simply telling me that it was not up to your standards is kinda counter-productive...don't ya think?

 

[jason j ladue]

Sorry, did not like your cuts and where you did them. Guess, it is accepted on this site from what I read by the others like your self. It was a honorable attempt and not high standards for me.

Jack
(master pruner)

not exactly what i would call constructive criticism. why dont you share w/ us what you might have done. do you have the "paint" software...

 

[jkrueger]

Good point. I think you took to much overall. And haveing left a little more lite stuff would have allowed more tree balancing by taking a couple of branches right back to the lead instead of cutting back to laterals that were not 2:3 in size. There is the good job done and then there is the trees esthetics to be considered in service to the organism. This part is not easy when it is a tree which has suffered so, and still doable. Gee, it isn't often we get a tree that has been well taken care of and now it is our turn to do it it's justice. I didn't mean to be snotty or smother your intent and it was probably the comments of some of the others that ticked me.

Yes, your request for a response was in good form,

Jack
(master pruner)

 

[jason j ladue]

it looks a little over-thinned. i think i might have just taken out the broken limbs and been more selective w/ the interior canopy. some of those tips look kind of exposed for when the next stor blows through. how many people were on your crew that day? btw kudos to you for your (brave) invite for advice/criticism.

 

[Redbull]

It was just me working today. I agree that it was over-thinned, but there was a lot more dead and decaying than what the pics show. Thanks for the reponse and critique guys. That's what I was looking for, not a pat on the back. I want to improve my skills, and I'm learning, but there's not many good tree guys here where I live. Most of them don't have the tree in mind at all.

 

[jason j ladue]

solo. thats what i figured. contrary to most of the encouragement i receive, i work alone on many of my jobs. most people warn me of that practice for safety issues. i am suggesting this to you however because a tree is a three-dimensional object, and it helps to have that extra perspective of another trained eye on the ground. sometime it hard to see what the thing looks like from the climber's vantage point. don't sweat it. on to the next one. done, and i'm done-and i'm on to the next...

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

It does look a little over pruned, but then those (siberian?) elms do hold a heavy deadwood load and many of the nodes had only a few branches coming off.

I think that is a perfect picture for why one should not top, and crown restorations need a maintainance schedule. A little at a time and maybe reduction cuts on the faster growing sprouts.

 

[Redbull]

Jason, I agree about the need for an extra set of eyes on the ground. Unfortunately, it's hard to find ground help who cares about trees as much as you do, let alone know what shoud/should not come out.
John, you are right. I should have taken less and set up a follow up. I did inform the customer that the tree would still require regular maintainance to maintain what health it has left.

 

[jason j ladue]

i wish i could set up a closed circuit camera- maybe even two or three of em from different angles- on the ground, and have the monitor w/ me aloft. anybody feelin me?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

i wish i could set up a closed circuit camera- maybe even two or three of em from different angles- on the ground, and have the monitor w/ me aloft. anybody feelin me?

That is sorta how Jerry Beranek gets those awsome shots of him in the trees, he will set up a remot camera wich he can trigger with either RF or IR, cant remember which.

 

[jason j ladue]

i know i'm blowing my own horn again, but i think w/all the techies around, this is a million$ idea. it has aplications all over the place.

 

[Redbull]

Hey, you hijacked my thread!!! Just kidding! That would be cool, if anything, just to check yourself out in action. Hey, I know somewhere else I could use a setup like that.Hehehehe!

 

[treeseer]

PS: As far as roots go, what were you referring to. There were no girdled, or exposed roots if that's what you mean.

What I mean is:
The resources for regrowth are under the ground. Improving conditions for the root zone by weeding fertilizing and mulching increases the regrowth and callusing you need in the crown. Yes it's good to check the roots at the trunk, but I'm talking about making sure the feeder roots are able to eat and drink hearty.
Overall I think Jack and John and Jason and I are in agreement with your strategy, but feel the execution could have been a little lighter. Your poiints about taking off everything that was decayeda nd crossing etc. are understood, but I like to leave branches that are ~<50% decayed the first time around if they keep holes from forming in the crown, and keep the total removed <30%. I also reduce crossing branches to lessen the rubbing rather than remove them all the way.

If you have aftercare committed to by the owner, then slower and more gradual, in tree time instead of human time, is better. And I wouldn't sweat it about working alone, I often do. The multiperspective vision thing will come in time, if you take your time in tree time. Lean back, swing around; there's a lot you can see while in the tree.

Thanks for posting the pics; you did a good job with them and the tree.

 

[Stumper]

It was just me working today. I agree that it was over-thinned, but there was a lot more dead and decaying than what the pics show. .

Therein lies my reason for not offering any criticism. I've worked on Elms where I cut NOTHING that wasn't broken or dead and they still looked overthinned. I assumed that you were doing the best with what you had to work with. Now we know that in hindsight, a little more could have been left. C'est la vie. :angel: