Educational stump grinding

[ORclimber]

I ground a 3' Oregon white oak stump yesterday under the supervision of a CA. He was looking for the reason the tree had been in decline so he could recommend prescriptions for the remaining 7 oaks on the property. The samples sent to the lab pre-removal came back negative for any pathogen. Looking at the top of the stump there was no obvious signs of rot, there were 2 small carpenter worm holes. I'd grind until something looked interesting and shut off the machine so the CA could inspect. There was a large cavity about 10" below grade. wet wood, lots of discolored heartwood and signs of failed attempts at compartmentalization. The CA took several 6"x6" chunks of stump that contained Mycellium(sp?) and black rhizomes to send back to the lab for positive ID.

I've always looked at stump grinding as bonehead production. Anytime I ran into heartrot it was a bonus because the stumps ground faster. For now on I'll be looking for rot/insect damage and trying to sort out what it means for the remaining trees.

 

[Kram]

Very interested, just make sure you bleach those teeth and cutter wheel, you never know how those living organisms might spread.

 

[lhampton]

Its not just stump grinding that gets interesting once you open your eyes. Stop and look at the rounds your packing out to the truck. When we do a removal and I see something interesting or unusual on the outside, I like to see what the inside shows.

Never stop learning.

Louie Hampton

 

[ORclimber]

Kram, you have a good point that I hadn't considered before. I'm no expert in diseases but, can think of at least 3(vert. wilt, phytophthora, and phelinus werrii (sp?)) that could potentially be moved site to site. Like most operators I try to line up several stump jobs before loading up. Washing down the grinder between stops might be a logistical problem. Washing it down on the customers lawn would be the most practical, but some wouldn't like that one bit.

 

[ORclimber]

Originally posted by lhampton
Stop and look at the rounds your packing out to the truck. When we do a removal and I see something interesting or unusual on the outside, I like to see what the inside shows.

Hear you. We have a lot of conifers dying from drought stress this year. Last spring the same CA pointed out how the drought was changing the inside of a couple 90' Doug-firs I took down. The trees showed no outside signs of distress. The heartwood showed that the trees were using the stored energy from the top down. There was proportionally less sapwood at the top of the tree than the bottom, should have been the other way around.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by ORclimber
The samples sent to the lab pre-removal came back negative for any pathogen. There was a large cavity about 10" below grade. wet wood, lots of discolored heartwood and signs of failed attempts at compartmentalization. The CA took several 6"x6" chunks of stump that contained Mycellium(sp?) and black rhizomes to send back to the lab for positive ID.

Yeah, this is where tree care gets way more fun than climbing and cutting. The black rhizomes/rhizomorphs may be Armillaria, but I've seen shoestring-like structures that were indeed something else.

The real fun comes when there's an active infection with fruiting bodies and all and you see it go inactive while the tree walls it off on the inside. There are strategies to attack decay fungi, invigorate the tree, possibly displace the pathogen with a symbiont/mycorrhizal fungus, and watch above ground for signs the underground battle is being won by the good guys.

Mycelia is the plural of mycelium, fungal support structures. It helps to learn the Latin, but not necessary to follow the game.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Originally posted by ORclimber
Last spring the same CA pointed out how the drought was changing the inside of a couple 90' Doug-firs I took down.

Who is the consultant you are working with?

 

[ORclimber]

Steve Wiley with Urban Forestry Solutions

 

[Dan F]

Washing the grinder

Is there any reason that you couldn't keep a spray bottle with alcohol in it to disinfect with?

Clean out the inside of the guards as best as you can while at the house, load up on the trailer, strap it down, spray the teeth and wheel. By the time you get to the next house, the alcohol should have evaporated and killed anything living, right?

Probably take an extra 10 minutes or so...?

This reminds me, I need to get a local ad scanned in and posted.


Dan

 

[ORclimber]

It's getting the machine clean enough to apply the alcohol that is the PITA. An inexpensive portable steam cleaner would be cool.