All thread rods in pine trees

[DavidT]

A customer of mine has a 100 ft pine tree with codominant stems. The trunk is about 30 inches in diameter. The stems start at about 20 feet, and it looks like a 15 ft crack. He wants me to put all thread rods to try to keep the tree safe. I have done it on oak trees but never on pine trees. What do ya'll think?

 

[DanielSon]

Nope!!!!

15 foot is WAY too much.

NO WAY I would touch that unless you buy a seperate policy for that specific jog. ( I am being a big sarcastic there).

Obviously you know that the minute you touch that tree to "repair/maintain" it, you are taking on liability.

15 years from now, weather you are still in the tree business or not, if that tree fell and killed someone, you would be on the hook for it.

What if your insurance co had folded by then?

This is why I don't cable or draw up risk assessment on paper.

The minute you do, you assume too much liability.

 

[Toparboring]

A thread rod isn't going to hold that, and yeah liability is yours when you touch that tree. The reason why I say that rod won't help is I have seen them fail with in a year with strong winds. When clients call me up for risk trees i give them the risk contract. the risk contract states that I do not take liability for the tree, when the so do client wants to preserve instead of remove. They have to sign it ( most of the time they don't) I am not catching crap if that tree fails after I said remove. Watch your back when doing risk trees, clients consider you the tree expert and will blame you fast when it fails and causes damage.

 

[Norm_Hall]

I have braced a white oak that had a 30 foot split in it 35 years ago and the tree is still standing today. The 2 parts of tree were 3 feet apart and we were able to draw it up tight. I remember putting in 4 support cables and approx. 10 bracing rods. I checked the tree out about 2 years ago and you can't even tell it was split.
The tree at the time of the cable/bracing was approx. 60 feet tall.
If the tree is sound and valuable, I would cable/brace it. A 30" tree requires 3/4" rod.

 

[cerviarborist]

Assess and evaluate the tree thoroughly to ascertain that it is a sound candidate for a bracing/support system. Assuming that it is, spec the job per ANSI standards and BMP's. Have the client sign all the appropriate waivers (basically stating that the only guarantee you're making is that you'll install the system per ANSI standards and BMP's)

Make sure that the client signs off that they're responsible for having the system reevaluated at the appropriate interval. Do the work according to standards, and make your client happy.

If they're going to invest that much money in the retention of a 100' tree, you might also want to suggest that they hedge their bet by considering installation of a lightning protection system as well.