Bracing rod sweetgum?

macrocarpa

macrocarpa

Branched out member
Location
Midwest
Thoughts on installing a bracing rod with no cable in this sweetgum?

I’m thinking HEAVY reduction on the left lateral leader and one rod above the union?
 

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If you do the heavy reduction, what do you hope to gain with a rod but no cable. hard to guage dimensions there; what's the distance from the union in question and the tips?
 
Matias said:
If you do the heavy reduction, what do you hope to gain with a rod but no cable. hard to guage dimensions there; what's the distance from the union in question and the tips?
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Reducing the left side lateral leader to drastically reduce weight on the union and slow down diameter growth. I think they’re about 30 feet long from the union. I know it’s hard to tell from the pictures, but I just wonder if a rod would be beneficial in this situation. A cable would be at a weird 45° angle going down. I don’t really like the forces that would be putting on the main leader.
 
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Why not just remove the left side? Are they poor compartmentalizers? Not a species I have deep knowledge of. I would be inclined to either remove entirely or cable, and just use those beveled washers so the cable doesn't bend.
 
A rod would probably be of some help, but I'm not sure how much because in my experience Sweet Gum trees are rather brittle. I would be concerned that putting only a brace rod would simply give the tree a new place to break. Putting a cable in from one of those leaders to the other does not seem to me it would put troublesome forces on the tree, at least not if it was placed at the right height. It may seem to be at a strange angle, but it should still spread the load and reduce the stress on the union.
 
They are not very good compartmentalizers in my experience. I would put a rod above, and two through the inclusion perpendicular to each other. I like using the Drayer Tree Guard that WesSpur carries for cabling scenarios like that. I don’t usually like to just blurt out how I would do it, but I’ve done this very thing to Sweet Gums in my area.

And do the reduction as well.
 
I agree that they're not great compartmentalizers and are brittle. I wouldn't take the whole thing off, but I wouldn't cable either. I have seen enough evidence of huge break-outs in liquidambar, that I would bet that it just stresses the next weakest link further down. Reduction. Heavy without going over 4" diameter, and making a few more cuts out there if you wanna really make a big impact fast.

What are the potential targets? Any chance you can sell them on a another visit in another two to three years do that second round of cuts instead of getting so much off at once? I have seen them make epicormic sprout fairly easily, even when they don't seem to be stressed.
 
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macrocarpa said:
Thoughts on installing a bracing rod with no cable in this sweetgum?

I’m thinking HEAVY reduction on the left lateral leader and one rod above the union?
Click to expand...
Wouldn’t think of that myself. Maybe if a slack dynamic cable as a catch fall backup is also placed.
But I should back up, what are the consequences of failure?
If a brace rod is installed I’d go as high as possible above the union. Ideally x3-6 stem diameter, or a min of one diameter above the union.
Is it possible to do some reduction pruning?
 
ATH said:
Reduce to here...is that branch big enough?

If you do that, is supplemental support even needed?

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Dang, that’s pretty heavy back to something at a funky angle. I’d try going further out than that by another 50% if possible or even more.
I’ve read that 10% reduction under static loads (ice) is good ~+50% strength increase at the union. So… if that’s accurate and applicable what does 5% get you?
Ditto where ‘thinning’ the outer peripheral can get near the same result (but shorter lasting as the tree just puts on what was removed asap).
 
evo said:
Dang, that’s pretty heavy back to something at a funky angle. I’d try going further out than that by another 50% if possible or even more.
I’ve read that 10% reduction under static loads (ice) is good ~+50% strength increase at the union. So… if that’s accurate and applicable what does 5% get you?
Ditto where ‘thinning’ the outer peripheral can get near the same result (but shorter lasting as the tree just puts on what was removed asap).
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He said "heavy". If the angle works, and the branch ratio works that's better than removal... or breaking.

Other options:
Yellow line which I like less.
One of the forks at the blue circle. I'm not convinced that's enough.

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evo said:
O

Id probably lean for blue with a whole bunch of pole pruner secondary cuts across all remaining.
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That's what I'm saying, with another heavy follow up two to three years later. I think one of the most difficult things for the client is to get into the mindset of thinking in tree timescales. It's not as crazy as geologic timescales, but it's quite a thing to start seeing the longview, and the more you can help people see that a couple of years is like a month in the life of a tree, the easier it gets to get them on a regular maintenance interval to steer the tree into a form that continues to have less and less risk associated with it. Then you can easily afford to never make cuts over 2".
 
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ATH said:
Reduce to here...is that branch big enough?

If you do that, is supplemental support even needed?

View attachment 101487
Click to expand...
That is exactly where I was thinking if I reduced to the furthest point possible. The picture really doesn’t do justice to how lateral that left side really is. I just don’t know about putting a rod in or not? I put two rods in an autumn blaze red maple and I couldn’t believe the decay that set in afterwards. It will eventually callus over. I’m thinking sweetgum might do the same and create a weak spot where the rod is.

But I bet that autumn blaze would be split in half after the winds we recently had if those rods weren’t installed.
 
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