This pine was ready to go

[Koa Man]

I removed a large Cook Island pine tree this week. The owner had a consulting arborist diagnosis his tree since he noticed a large amount of sap oozing out of the trunk. It was tested with a Resistograph and the arborist he hired recommended removal. Here are the pictures.

 

[Koa Man]

Here are some pictures of the debris and stump removal.
After I gone home I realized I forgot to take a picture after everything was cleaned up. Trust me, we did a good cleanup job.

 

[a_lopa]

i love grinding stumps like that! bling!

 

[treeseer]

Thanks Koa, great pictures. That stump sure was rotted; amazing it held up this long. How did it feel to see the decay after you'd put your aspirations for a long life at the top of that tree?

Was the consultant Kevin E.? I just met him here in NC.

 

[Koa Man]

Guy,
I am not sure who the consultant was. I know another arborist, Dudley Hulbert, had checked the tree with someone who had a Resistograph. I have climbed at least 5 other pines with rotted stumps at least that bad. Whenever I see a lot of sap oozing out of the trunk on a Cook Island or Norfolk pine, I don't need to have a Resistograph test. I know from experience that the inside is rotten. I have removed propbably 30 with sap on the trunk.....every one of them had some rot on the inside. In contrast those that I did remove that had no sap, nice clean trunk, were solid.

BTW, I know Kevin Eckart...he used to be the forestry manager for the local power company.

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

Nice job Koa, the only critter over here that will chomp on wood is a moth that hollows out branches making the tree/branch dangerous .Anyone in the UK wanting RESISTOGRAPH testing carried out at a reasonable cost PM me.

 

[geofore]

sap oozing?

Where is the pic of the sap oozing? If you used the sap oozing out as the tell tale sign of what shape the tree is in, why did you leave the sap pics out??? It's a way of telling the others that if they see this kind of damage the tree needs to be taken down. Where's the sap flow pics?

 

[Koa Man]

I did not take a close up picture of the trunk. I only mentioned about the sap as an afterthought. If someone told me that if I see sap oozing out of a trunk is a sign something is wrong, I don't need a photo to know what they are talking about. Pine sap looks like someone poured wood glue on the trunk. If I see another pine like that I will take a picture and post it for you.

 

[treeseer]

geofore, not every oozing tree is as badly decayed as that one. Besides, that sp. will not grow in PA until the globe warms up a whole lot more; it's a zone 9 tree I believe.

Overextrapolation can lead to panic.