Tell me if I'm wrong about these trees' conditions

[ForTheArborist]

So back to the OP. Have you collected fruit(nuts)/leaves/flowers from the eucs so they can be id'd? A photograph of each against a scale item will be useful. Once the species is known then the discussion will be far more pertinent. Guessing about tree care for a genus that can range from 5 metres mature height to 90 metres mature height is not going to help the HO or anyone else for that matter.

Jomoco you have said a lot about E.globulus is that what you think these Eucs are?

The HO isn't going to be ready for me to come back until Jan, so I can't get a leaf sample or the like. I recognize it anywhere. It has a huge, distinguishable sheding bark.

Are the pics too far out to distinguish the genus? Wait, don't you herd eucs around in austrlia like cattle? I just assume that there are a few around there... enough to spot a genus from a mile away for a regular like yourself. So what genus is mine?

 

[ForTheArborist]

And you would once again be wrong, wrong, wrong in your silly assumptions regarding proper euc pruning maintenance.

Light thinning of the canopy in the class one sense of fine pruning that allows the wind through it has always been the optimum gold standard for pruning eucs, and most other trees as well. Small fine thinning cuts being preferable to larger cuts to reduce the tree's size in terms of height or reach.

Anytime your pruning triggers a tree's suckering response, you have pruned too much out of the tree. A tree's ability to hold a fine pruning without suckering for 3-4 years is an excellent indication of an arborist's fine pruning skills, an almost lost art now in my opinion, exacerbated by amateurs intent on size reduction that triggers a vicious cycle of bi-annual butchery of nothing but weakly attached tertiary suckers.

In all honesty our ignorance of trees in modern arboriculture far exceeds our skills for giving the trees what they truly need.

Most of our tree problems are of our own making in my opinion.

A properly pruned tree should be almost indistinguishable from the tree prior to pruning, just a little thinner canopy that can be seen through with a uniform density of foliage.

jomoco

I do a lot of fine pruning where I'm in the tree aaaaall day, but it's a small tree you know. The whole time I'm in there I keep a careful track of the suckering effect that may result from my cutting.

I was reading somewhere about trimming not the limb but the second stage of the branch, so that there are only minimal effects to the trees well being. This suggests to me there is more to learn about mere pruning/trimming than what I've managed so far.

 

[treeseer]

there is more to learn about mere pruning/trimming than what I've managed so far.

That's for sure. I also hear a lot of requests to make the tree smaller, so I make the tree smaller. But I don't top trees. Crown reduction is a very straightforward process, not hard if you can get to the tips of the tree.

Read A New Tree Biology, p. 459.

fta, if you are asking someone in australia what kind of tree you have...

"San Diego, we have a problem"

Connect with your local extension agent or somebody or visit a bot gdn and learn ID.

 

[outofmytree]

The HO isn't going to be ready for me to come back until Jan, so I can't get a leaf sample or the like. I recognize it anywhere. It has a huge, distinguishable sheding bark.

Are the pics too far out to distinguish the genus? Wait, don't you herd eucs around in austrlia like cattle? I just assume that there are a few around there... enough to spot a genus from a mile away for a regular like yourself. So what genus is mine?

The genus is Eucalyptus, the question is what species is it. If, as I stated earlier, you include Angophora and Corymbia there are 894 Eucalypts. So yes, id from a range photo is difficult. According to Euclid there are 375 species with partly rough bark as your picture shows.

All that is required is a photo of nuts on the palm of your hand and a small cluster of leaves still attached to the stem. With these it is possible to get a firm id. I cannot emphasize enough how useful it is to know WHICH eucalypt is being discussed.

I imagine the HO will be impressed with your returning to gather information to assist in an appropriate assesment of all the possible options in caring for their trees.

 

[jomoco]

Jomoco you have said a lot about E.globulus is that what you think these Eucs are?

Yup, but I'm not 100 percent positive without actually being on site.

jomoco

 

[mattfr12]

I know what you mean, I know it goes on every where but seems bad in this area. I heard one time that Lancaster county is the worst county in the country for tree topping. I refuse to top trees if HO wants it. I try to talk them out of it or into just removing the tree instead of topping. If that doesn't work than I half to walk away.

when i worked for larger companies they wouldnt top trees. But now that i run my own if i dont do it someone else will get paid to do it. id rather get paid than not to get paid at all. i live in a small town called McDonald in Pa. and almost every street tree, maybe 95% have been topped. most multiple times it happens to them around every 5 -10 years around here. But in my mind your right your beter off removing it. the trees are safer being larger than being small and topped. After they are topped they start to decay.

 

[outofmytree]

when i worked for larger companies they wouldnt top trees. But now that i run my own if i dont do it someone else will get paid to do it. id rather get paid than not to get paid at all. i live in a small town called McDonald in Pa. and almost every street tree, maybe 95% have been topped. most multiple times it happens to them around every 5 -10 years around here. But in my mind your right your beter off removing it. the trees are safer being larger than being small and topped. After they are topped they start to decay.

Matt you will hear this a lot. Please don't top those trees. There are lots of really good reasons why you shouldnt but check out this thread and perhaps the pictures will be more useful than words.

http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=115233

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

http://sdplproxy.sandiego.gov/form?...CH7LH2T&searchBy=database&searchType=advanced

This is the online card catalog for the SDP Library, you need a card number to look things up. I'm sure they have Shigo, Pirone or Harris on a reference shelf.

 

[jomoco]

when i worked for larger companies they wouldnt top trees. But now that i run my own if i dont do it someone else will get paid to do it. id rather get paid than not to get paid at all. i live in a small town called McDonald in Pa. and almost every street tree, maybe 95% have been topped. most multiple times it happens to them around every 5 -10 years around here. But in my mind your right your beter off removing it. the trees are safer being larger than being small and topped. After they are topped they start to decay.

There's nothing inherently wrong with re-topping trees Matt. As long as your paper record reflects you are dealing with secondary or tertiary growth, and that depending on species the trees must be pruned again within X number of years, you have done your duty as an arborist.

There are certain situations such as wind exposed peaks in certain locales where topping and bi-annual maintenance ensure a longer life and enjoyment of certain species than would be otherwise possible.

The ISA needs to recognise this fact, and deal with the legal ramifications of it in a far more pragmatic and honest manner than they do currently.

This fact has been true for centuries, and the ISA ignoring it hurts them more than it helps them in my 36 year opinion.

jomoco

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

If you are biannual, and are making collar cuts, then it is a pollard. 3-4 year pollard cycles are not uncommon in Europe.

Sometimes once it is started then cyclical retopping is the only maintenance method available short of a costly removal.

One could do a renewal pollard of the manner Kim Coder has espoused, where not all the stems are removed in the pruning cycle, just the most vigorous.