nice butt !!!

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See where I'm a little stuck?

[/ QUOTE ]Yup, but not so stuck as to warrant insomnia. The woundwood is incredible strong, the tree's exposure is low. the cankers are ugly but as someone said, when has anyone seen a beech break at the base?

does the fungus look like meripilus to you? better pics of conk would help.
 
X, The ultrasound is what health care uses for abdomens. It's what takes those fetus pictures. Because of the density of the abdomen it would need to be much more sensitive to read a tree. I'm not aware of the results if any research has been done with ultrasound and trees. I'm also speculating if ground radar would give useful information on roots. Just curious.

Rob, The tree looks pretty good from the little I can tell from the info. If it's a concern causing stress and your supervisors are overriding your expert opinion there's not much you can do beside writing a CYA report relieving yourself of responsibility.
 
Legomaniac, You tricked us all with the "nice butt!!!" title, but it's not a nice butt at all, it's a bad butt, but some bad butts can actually be good. As odd as it may seem I actually like this tree's lower quarters. The only thing that would keep me up at night, would be the mental image of how nice it is that's burned into my brain.
 
Thanks for all the input fellas.

X: The cable anchors would need to be above head level. I have zero faith in the average drunken student! It would be ironic to end up with a lawsuit totally unrelated to the original tree concern!
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A few questions:
1.) would the cables run horizontal or sloping upwards?
2.) Dynamic vs. static? If dynamic, the anchors would be even more limited, according to natural crotches available. Also what about shock absorbers? What about my idea of inserting extras in each span? Or should the movement be eliminated as much as possible?
I'll get back to you on the dbh.

Guy and Boreality: I'm exagerating to say this keeps me up but thanks for the concern. I'm pretty sure my CYA is in place. I have another tree with a different hazard and no support (from above, not in the tree!) so I'm well aware of my paper trail. For both trees I've already recommended "further detailed assessment required" , including Philip's involvement. Seeing as I'm getting so much help on this one maybe I'll add the other tree onto this thread!

I thought the conks are Ganoderma lucidum but I'm not really good with fungi. I'll take better photos tommorow and post them.

I guess another question is how to tell if this is getting worse over time? A tree with a butt already this ugly, conks and so little cambium, at what point IS it dangerous? How much uglier would this need to be?!? The canopy is still really healthy so who knows what this thing can still do...
 
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Legomaniac, You tricked us all with the "nice butt!!!" title

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My next one will be called "Check out this nasty rotten crotch!"
 
Great to figure out what fungus is affecting the the tree.

How is the soil? Compacted? Drainage?

Have you unearthed any of the roots? I was reading a little bit about meripilus, about which Guy had questioned. I read something that indicated that meripilus can leave more superficial roots looking good, while deeper ones can be decayed. Guess ID'ing will tell a lot.

Have you climbed this one yet for an inspection?

What caused the openings in the cambium?

It would be great to have some measurements and indication of health on the possible anchor trees, as well as more on the beech.
 
That fungus looks more like Ganaderma to me. We deal with it a lot here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganoderma The platelets usually look like the ones in legomaniacs pics. Some kid usually breaks it off and plays with it. When this tree finally dies you'll find the heartwood and xylem tissues have advanced stages of decay in close proximity to the conk.
 
I got rained out today. Tommorow I'll get new photos and measurements. I'm also planning on doing a little drilling to feel out wood soundness.

Sean, I've been in this tree a few times, but not recently. It seemed pretty solid, not too spongy, never really got a "pucker" factor from it. Maybe I'll pulltest again with a higher mechanical advantage and see what I can see/hear!

The damage to the trunk was almost certainly lawnmowers way back before the area was mulched. There's lots of that here!
"GRRRRRRR! Why'd they put this tree in my way?!?!?!"
 
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I'm also planning on doing a little drilling to feel out wood soundness.

[/ QUOTE ]Is this a good idea before knowing the pathogen? as said above, meripilus and ganoderma have different modes of action.

"When this tree finally dies you'll find the heartwood and xylem tissues have advanced stages of decay in close proximity to the conk."

Or you may find the infection compartmentalized. sorry to attach this again, but it's easy to assess the rot by simply digging decayed areas rather than drilling and possibly spreading it.
 

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You're right, I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll be working in the area tomorrow and should be able to steal some time to excavate. What sort of tools are best?
I'll take some photos for posting and probably drop of a few samples for the diagnostic clinic as well.
 
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...should be able to steal some time to excavate. What sort of tools are best?

[/ QUOTE ]I like a claw hammer with straight claws to start, followed by trowel, screwdriver, icepick...claw hammer also good for resonance testing,but judiciously on beech's thin bark..if wounds do not extend below ground level, you may be looking at minor decay associated with those ugly wounds.

twould be most ironic if lawnmower wounds at the base called for the chainsaw of Basil Kutz, only to find small pockets of rot on the outside of clear wood. “I cannot tell a lie, sir. I hit that tree with my hatchet where I saw that rot.” Codit confessed. I started to dream of a utopia where all innocent plants would be equipped with metal detectors that would keep Cain from being raised on them, but then Quincy burst.

“That is not appropriate methodology! Those trees are protected by ordinance! I’m calling Arbor Cop.” Quincy hit a few numbers on some gizmo in his hand and a minute later Arbor Cop arrived.

AC pulled out his dog-eared copy of the ANSI Pruning Standards and read 5.2.1: “Equipment and work practices that damage living tissue and bark beyond the scope of the work should be avoided.”

I wondered why that “should” was not a “shall”—is there ever any reason NOT to avoid damage?--but then Clarice turned into a damsel in distress.

“Oh but Codit will not get into college with an arrest record. If you gentlemen could help I would be so very grateful; you’ll come over for dinner tonight won’t you?” Her eyelashes batted over her baby blues, like a slow-motion video of bats flittering out of a high cavity from a codominant tearout wound.

sorry got carried away...
 
Here's some new photos and info.

First here's the layout as far as potential guying/cabling using surrounding trees. All the anchor trees are healthy with the exception of a canker in the Norway Maple, about 12' height, but the anchor would be installed under this anyway.
Image6.jpg


Canker in Norway Maple:
IMG_0480copy.jpg


Here's some more photos of the fungi:
IMG_0474copy.jpg


IMG_0475copy.jpg


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Notice the Nectria starting on the right side:
IMG_0483copy.jpg


I can email or post higher resolution photos if needed.
 
Does the conk have the white underside that discolors with contact?

I wonder if higher force pull testing is going to give you any evidence that can be drawn from. Was your 3:1 under the force of one person? If you were to pull it until it says something, what would that be saying to you? Hard to guess how much force is on a tree during storm conditions, and it won't be in one point, as with your attachment of the MA system.

If I have a sketchy tree to take down, I pull test to see if it should be strong enough to climb. That's about all I could conclude from pulling on it, except for big red flags. Could be possible to damage the tree with too much force, especially if concentrated along a 1/2-3/4" rope width.
 
That doesn't look like mower damage to me, unless they were doing super trunk rides. What else might have caused it? What about that electrical panel. When was that installed? Trenching? Excavating? Looks more like heavier equipment damage than mower damage. Roots aren't planed off, and the side of a big mower would still have to have been repeatedly smashed into it, from the looks of it.

Maybe find out where that electrical line runs and when it was installed??
 
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Roots aren't planed off, and the side of a big mower would still have to have been repeatedly smashed into it, from the looks of it.

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That's exactly the sort of thing that happens here
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Maybe find out where that electrical line runs and when it was installed??

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Good thought. I can talk to the electricians and probably get that answer.

I'm just down from the beech for lunch. It was in really good shape, only a few bad stubs from somone cutting it back from the stone building. A few sticks of 1" deadwood throughout. It felt really solid and even the very top was still pushing annual growth.

Not really sure where that leaves me...
 
Roots aren't planed off, and the side of a big mower would still have to have been repeatedly smashed into it, from the looks of it.----
That's exactly the sort of thing that happens here
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& Here too!

It was in really good shape, only a few bad stubs from somone cutting it back from the stone building. A few sticks of 1" deadwood throughout. It felt really solid and even the very top was still pushing annual growth.

Not really sure where that leaves me...

& Sleeping well. Maybe just measure the cankers now, and compare in one year?

Those conks are pretty old but do not look like ganoderma from here...
 
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