How Branches become dangerous. Claus Mattheck

I'm a huge fan of Mattheck's but i think the term he used "Chinese beard" should be substituted with a more professional term. Maybe it was just the way it translated. Have always loved Claus' books, research, great speaker too.
 
Fu manchu is probabley what he said.
Very good visual for the seperation of the collar above the union.


I ahve purchased 2 bags of fertilizer over my 15 yrs in biz and rarely recommend any fertilizing and when I do it is based on observable nutrient deficiencies. Usually Nitrogen or Sulphur in the case of a soil pH issue.

In line with Claus presentation, unwarranted fertilizing or soils rich in nutrients such as water and Nitrogen would be the leading cause of branch failure.

Also when pruning or training young trees the recommendation to prune the more vigorous competing limb or lead out and subordinate type pruning is shown as best practice in preventing failures.

And thinning over reduction can be considered when sail and levering potential are not an issue.

Interesting how this Fu manchu can be used to better explain Sudden limb drop.

Just some thoughts on a rainy holiday.

Its noon here know and time to put the coffee away and enjoy a Pilsner.
Cheers
 
I haven't viewed Claus's video yet, but the term "Chinese Beard" is pretty well established, although certainly unfortunate and insensitive.

As I recall, Alex Shigo used it in the Shigo and Larsen 1969 photoguide, which is linked here: http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/4424
Be aware that the PDF is +28MB in size. I had that rescanned and uploaded to the Forest Service Treesearch site a year or two ago to improve the image quality. I think that is what is up there now.

In my opinion, that is Shigo's most useful publication as a forest pathologist, but does not directly deal at all with urban and community trees.
 
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