Lopsided tree due to powerline arborist maintenance, dangerous?

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
"in the US, power companies don't hire "arborists" to do line clearance"
"There is an entire classification of arborist hired almost exclusively by power companies"
You might want to reword that.
And I just realised only one of those remarks came from you. I really should abandon my attempts to learn computer stuff and go back to face to face communication. I hate them and they hate me.
 
I'm not, nor do I pretend to be, an arborist. I don't play one on TV or spend anytime in a holiday inn. I just cut trees for fire wood. This is just some info about our area and what I've seen. Now that the trees are about to be removed it's all just local color.
Here in central California Pacific Gas and Electric has roving "people", who may or may not be arborists, marking trees for pruning or removal by tree services. They tell the land owners what they intend to do and I've negotiated with them about removing the tree entirely or pruning in a certain way to make it less ugly. They have a minimal interest in how the resulting butched tree looks using their simple standard of distance to power lines as their template. Tree services come in afterward and do the work. They are inefficient in that they have a two visit program requiring the tree service to come out twice to do work that could be done with one visit. There are trees in my neighborhood that look worse than those oaks in the pictures.
There is a golf course in the area that has been in existence for 100 years They have planted a number of exotic tree species at the course including Cork Oaks and Blue Gum trees. There is a row of Eucalyptus on the left side of one fairway that have been pounded by golf balls for that entire time while the trees grew to full maturity. The side of the trees facing the tee box looks like it had been shot with dud M 79 grenades. There is not one piece of undamaged bark on that side of those trees and up the tree until the small limbs slow the golf balls down. The trees appear healthy in all other aspects so it seems that Gum trees are pretty tough as far as insults to their bark.
 
I'm surprised to see you talking bad about yourself that way. You are one of the arborists here, are you not?
Someone needs to wind their neck in, work in the industry as a qualified arb for more than a decade without killing themselves or someone else and likely be less of a tosser in general before they say all arbs on here are shite
 
Lol. Been there, done that.
Let me help you - there is a "delete" and "edit" button at the bottom left of your posts. :cheers:
Unless someone has quoted your post, you can make it disappear.

Nope. Even if quoted, you can still edit and delete. Been doing it for years.

In fact... I've been known to quote folks and their particularly embarrassing posts just to preserve them against subsequent deletion.
 
They look to be Euc. maculata? Though lopped trees like that look ugly, and I've done worse for powerline clearance, they aren't that badly off balance. I assume this has been done regularly and they have just been a bit more severe this time. Any decrease of canopy will reduce the potential 'sail' load in strong wind, though the actual physics involved in a full canopy is extremely complicated. Winds are rarely continuous in both speed and direction. This usually means that some parts of the canopy will be moving in opposite directions at the same time. Good luck trying to get the power company to accept any liability for what they've done. I'm surprised they didn't send you a bill for that hack job. If it has been done regularly then theoretically the tree will have compensated for the balance issue. You'll see a lot worse in a smaller tree trying to escape the shadow of a larger neighbour. As with everything on this forum, it's all care taken, no liability accepted. If you are really concerned, which would be understandable seeing that one that failed, you need to get an arboricultural report. Not cheap but they will give you a much more dependable opinion of the risk.
So I've always been curious - I've seen some trees trimmed one-sided like that for years - decades, sometimes - and they almost seem to compensate in some way - they'll hold up against winds that take nearby trees sometimes. Does the wood grain change - sort of like muscles build up when stressed (though obviously not in the same way?) There have been some I've expected to see down with every bad wind, that have survived for years.

Or were the folks that cut them just real lucky?
 
Arborists specializes in tree care and the guys that clear powerline right of ways are tree services. They are not in the business of tree health or management just in the business of keeping the powerlines working. Atleast in the USA.
When John worked for the utility tree service, they *had* an arborist - but it seemed he was mostly used to settle disputes when someone was arguing that a tree should be left alone and tried to take it to court. Otherwise, they got their assignments, and they trimmed to the specs, distance-wise, full stop.

When he worked for the city after that, they were trimming city trees, or trees that intruded onto city property/utilities/whatever, and my memory is the guy went around and talked to folks first. My power company does that, but it's a co-op, so might be a different deal.
 
So I've always been curious - I've seen some trees trimmed one-sided like that for years - decades, sometimes - and they almost seem to compensate in some way - they'll hold up against winds that take nearby trees sometimes. Does the wood grain change - sort of like muscles build up when stressed (though obviously not in the same way?) There have been some I've expected to see down with every bad wind, that have survived for years.

Or were the folks that cut them just real lucky?
So much of it depends on the species, and the circumstances, and then just physics...
 
When John worked for the utility tree service, they *had* an arborist - but it seemed he was mostly used to settle disputes when someone was arguing that a tree should be left alone and tried to take it to court. Otherwise, they got their assignments, and they trimmed to the specs, distance-wise, full stop.

When he worked for the city after that, they were trimming city trees, or trees that intruded onto city property/utilities/whatever, and my memory is the guy went around and talked to folks first. My power company does that, but it's a co-op, so might be a different
So I've always been curious - I've seen some trees trimmed one-sided like that for years - decades, sometimes - and they almost seem to compensate in some way - they'll hold up against winds that take nearby trees sometimes. Does the wood grain change - sort of like muscles build up when stressed (though obviously not in the same way?) There have been some I've expected to see down with every bad wind, that have survived for years.

Or were the folks that cut them just real lucky?

That is an extremely interesting post and I apologise for not noticing it sooner. While I can't offer any concrete evidence, I have noticed trees that have formed, almost fat rolls on one side of their trunk. Usually on the side to which the tree leans. It looks as though the compressive forces have begun to concertina the tissue on that side. I also used to think the flame grain present in some timbers might be physical evidence of that effect. However, the last batch of jarrah I milled showed a fairly even distribution throughout the logs.

IMG_0253.JPGIMG_0249.JPG

Notice the flaming is on both sides. I also found it on what might be considered the top and bottom of that trunk.
 
While it sounds a little petty, I would be interested to hear your qualifications. I don't know how easy it will be to equate American and Australian qualifications.
really??? please outline what you mean by qualifications
 
Whilst this tree is a bit small for there to be compressive forces of any magnitude, it does show the effect I'm talking about. It also challenges my hypothesis by being present on both sides of the trunk.IMG_1899.JPGIMG_1900.JPG
 
Someone needs to wind their neck in, work in the industry as a qualified arb for more than a decade without killing themselves or someone else and likely be less of a tosser in general before they say all arbs on here are shite
I apologise that my sense of humour seems to be interpreted as serious commentary on this forum. As I think the OP is an Australian, he will probably not fall into that trap.
While I openly admit to having very limited formal qualifications, I have worked in the tree industry for around twenty years. Eight or nine as a climber and knuckle dragger, twelve in mature tree transplanting.
 
Lol. Been there, done that.
Let me help you - there is a "delete" and "edit" button at the bottom left of your posts. :cheers:
Unless someone has quoted your post, you can make it disappear.
Personally I find that to be a little disingenuous. I do often go back to correct spelling, grammar and the such.
I think anything you post should remain in the public arena, just as anything you say can be remembered by the listeners in face to face communication.
You should need to defend it or apologise and withdraw (not delete) it.
 
"in the US, power companies don't hire "arborists" to do line clearance"
"There is an entire classification of arborist hired almost exclusively by power companies"
You might want to reword that.

I cannot think of a reason to do that. You might want to compare what you posted to the original quotes.
 
I cannot think of a reason to do that. You might want to compare what you posted to the original quotes.
Sorry, I did apologise for that mistake earlier. Or I thought I did.
Either way, that was an error on my part and I am happy to apologise and withdraw my accusation.
 
Back
Top