Cold Snap

[Riggs]

freezing my nads off working on golf courses and yesterday at 3 I get a call a tree fell on a house . It was cold , windy but I have no time for this , thought it was a joke or a tree that was neglected . Fact is it was tree that looked healthy , not a dead limb , crushed the side of a house yesterday afternoon . Took it off the house with a crane , two picks , no big deal . look and learn , I tell everyone who will listen , don't worry about the dead trees , worry about the live ones , especially with problems like this picture .

 

[Riggs]

They don't know why it fell . Wind pushed it , the fence was two feet behind it and and never touched the fence , flew onto the house . Hazard trees are not always dead trees . That was a bad tree and I could have told you that before this happened . would you ?

 

[Viking]

I can't be sure but it looks like some serious girdling roots in the first pic. Big furry pine like that sure it would come down eventually. In the second pic the swell makes it even more likely to have been SGzroots. What does Doc Rigggs say?

 

[tnttree]

definitely SGRs

 

[bushwackertree]

I'm gonna go with SGRs, looking at both pics looks to be why the tree failed.

Ben
Bushwacker Tree

 

[Oroboros]

So SGR means seriously girdled roots?

 

[Viking]

Stem girdling ruskies

 

[Oroboros]

That helps. Thanks.

 

[guymayor]

[ QUOTE ]
. That was a bad tree and I could have told you that before this happened . would you ?

[/ QUOTE ]

That was a bad condition, but treatable by pruning and tracing. Too bad the owners did not provide that standard care.

Nice pics thanks!

 

[flyingsquirrel25]

I have seen that same thing a couple times around here. It is very common on white pines in our area. I cant tell from the picture but a wire basket has been the cause of the ones I have seen. The calus grows over the top of the basket making it look like a SGR. Thanks for posting Riggs.

 

[ginkobalboa]

Anyone have any good links full of info about SGR? When I google ruskies, all I get is stuff about Russians.

 

[flyingsquirrel25]

http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/planting.shtml
Check out Ed Gilmans site. There is a ton of useful information. Most of his girdling root research it in why it happens, and how to fix it at planting. But all good info

 

[Riggs]

just curious Guy , i just know bad trees when I see them , never liked trees with old growth roots choking them . I;m thinking the tree was no more than thiry/forty years old , so at what point is tracing and correcting not an option ? I;m just a man who has a good read on bad trees and this is very common , very hazardous . I'm thinking it happened at planting ,can you really fix that ?

 

[Daniel]

generally SGR are more common around here in maples... they kill the maples well before causing them to topple. Problem is less common in pines, but seems to cause pines to fail as shown, rather than die back..

I give firewood to to a guy that gave me a pair of insulated jeans for Christmas... Work over UA head to toe, I was amazed at the difference... so much blood moving through the legs.. Was very comfortable today...
Anything under 30 and I'll be wearing them.

 

[Gorman]

I have a hard time climbing in the cooooolllld weather since my harness pulls my sweatshirts up and I get realll cold. I tried the overalls/bibs but they don't make them for skinny 6 foot 5 guys so I ended up bruising my junk bad from the high crotch on those carharts.

If anyone has any info on bibs/overalls for the tall skinny folks please let me know.

 

[brushbandit]

Surprising that the tree didn't fail during Sandy. Maybe the cold made the wood less pliable causing it to snap.

 

[RopeShield]

Make a body warmer like a leg warmer out of old sweater.
Cheers

 

[zale]

Poor quality nursery trees. See it in white pines, linden, bradford pear. Just about anything container grown.