Getting sunlight on a pool

T

treemann

Location
NW Indiana
I have a wooded community that has contacted me to do some pruning on their oak trees to try and get some more sun on the pool. I told them that this would be very difficult without the possibility of putting the health of the trees at risk. I would like to here your guys thoughts on the best way to try and attempt this. Would it be crown reduction or do you guys think that adequate sunlight penetration can be acheived through thinning.
 
There are tools that can be used to see the "sun window" of a site. Solar energy people use them to site collectors. I found this site but I didn't read through the whole works. It seems like they have a siting tool:

Look on pages 4&7 of this document for the homeowner version of the tool:

http://www.nwbuildnet.com/articles/pdf/SitingActive.pdf

http://tinyurl.com/cru9u


I've done a little reading about solar collectors and the quality/quantity of sun they need. Even filtered sun can have a huge influence on the effeciency of the collector.

I'll describe how they're used...

The tool is printed onto clear plastic, like what you would use in an overhead projector. The tool looks like several arcs with radius lines going through it. They're developed specifically for your latitude. They are meant to be mounted onto a board and then on top of a tripod. You would sight through the window to see if the sun would peak through at different times of the year.

In order to make an appreciable difference for a pool you would have to remove limbs. When people sit around the pool they seem to want 100% sun. Even one leaf will make shade.

Without using the sun window tool you may be doing a dis-service to the trees and your client. Many times I had clients who wanted limbs on trees removed to open up sky windows for sun. When I pointed out that the window may be opened at this time of year when the sun is highest it would be closed when the sun is low in the sky. Most people don't have an understanding of how much higher and lower the sun is during the year. Then there is the case where the nearby trees get the attention but they forget about the next row of trees that would have to be worked on in order to open the window. Most of the time the second row of trees is on the neighbor's property.
 
Also helps to know the lifestyle of the people who live there. WHEN do they go in the water? That would suck if you pruned for where the sun was when you were there in the morning, only to find out later that they only swim after work.

love
nick
 
it is the community pool so it is used throughout the day. the president of the pool commity thinks that the area only lacks afternoon sun. and yes that would suck
 
Treeman, (funny-that's what all of my hockey buds call me /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif)

I would maybe recommend removing on or two trees rather then mutilate them. These "sun-hungry" customers are only happy when the tree isn't in the way. Sacrafice one or two to save the lot!
 
I have the exact same situation with the client I did the 'wish me luck' removal for on the rigging & roping board. There's about 10 mature oaks on the other side of the house.
They love the sun, but from the pool its directly in line with a tall oak, and it doesn't rise over the tree until 12:00, so they tell their friends they can come over but we have no sun yet. /forum/images/graemlins/laughing.gif (isn't that funny), so they want the whole thing cut down. Fine by me!! /forum/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Thanks Norm it was nice to meet you also. I climbed with Gary yesterday and he really appreciated your putting the climbers first and giving them 30 minutes for the masters. The last three years the climbers were only allowed 10 minutes and none of the finalists have been able to complete their climb until this year.

Yes oakwilt is a concern in our area and I have told them that I will not do the work until fall. They understand that whatever is done will not help the situation until next year.
 
Treeman,

Thinning may not satisfy the customer, but crown reduction, in the long run, is even worse, IMO. The parts of the crowns below your cuts will become thicker in response, and the newly cleared areas above the cuts will fill back in thicker than they were, and pretty quickly, too.

I had a client who has to "crown reduce" her oak every other year, because it keeps growing right back up into the sun. I suggested thinning, but she found someone to border-line top it for her, decided he was the one who really understands how to do things. Formerly one of the best oaks in town, too.
 
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