Retrenching Hollow Trees for Life

guymayor

guymayor

Branched out member
Location
East US, Earth
8 a.m. 11/15/2013 I will present "Retrenching Hollow Trees for Life" in the Arboriculture track at TCI Expo. Case studies include the use of tomography, and information straight from the trees. We shall overcome faulty conclusions from incomplete, defect-based tree risk assessments. Tree owners appreciate their trees' strengths, and understand the process of retrenchment. They are pleased with the results, for life.

This is a shout out to anyone with examples of pruning back hollow trees to help them live longer. Please send pics and details if you would not mind them included in the presentation. This need be nothing fancy or polished. Pics can be stamped for attribution, and I'll buy the first beer for contributors.
 
Hey Guy, I laud you for presenting at the TCI Expo but why the new fancy word and what are the chances of a Tomograph showing up on an assessment let alone a resistograph in the real world, and do "trees (really?) accommodate fungi, relentlessly and indefinitely."...while perpendicular to the ground?
 
Thanks Guy for letting us know. I haven't seen the full schedule of EXPO presentations yet. I'll be on later that afternoon on Friday afternoon. You've got the snappier title, mine is: “Mature Tree Concepts and Management Consequences”. Should be fun.
 
Kevin, good to know I can see your talk. By the looks of your title, it seems the committee wants to see info on the care of old trees. My title was the subject line of a hasty email, but I kinda like it w double entendre at the end.

Dave, tomography is common in the real world, and retrenchment is not a new word or concept; from 2010: Retrenchment first referred to soldiers who retreated back to a line
they could defend, where landforms and supplies allowed them to
dig in and fight anew. This concept relates very well to declining trees,
so before cutting any branches to reduce the size of the canopy, visualize
the new canopy outline. The objective is to make reduction cuts
so that branch tips are left intact on the new, smaller canopy. For
trees with strength loss at the base, as little as a 10 percent reduction
in height often adds a great amount of stability. This effect is reported
in Tree Statics tests and calculations on many trees in Europe that
have been slightly reduced and successfully retained. Older trees die
back when sufficient water cannot reach their periphery. Retrenchment
makes more water available and redirects growth to a lower, consolidated
crown. This pruning also redirects hormonal growth regulation,
often resulting in reiteration and rejuvenation. This process
has been likened by Claus Mattheck to a king being overthrown,
allowing the rise of several dukes and earls.
Reiteration is any shoot that repeats the basic form of the tree.
Like new stems arising from stumps, reiterations in the crown are
often extremely vigorous, so they make logical targets to cut a branch
back to. However, when they arise perpendicular to the parent branch,
their structural stability may be compromised. Cuts at right angles
can also result in a “hollow elbow” type of decay. Smaller cuts further
outward may be difficult to make perfectly without an aerial
lift, but it may be better for the tree to have an imperfect smaller
wound than a more precise larger wound after unnecessary crown
loss. A slight swelling or a reduction in diameter indicating a node
can be felt more than seen, so running both hands along the branch
can be a vital step in understanding what to do with it. Shigo’s mantra
 

Attachments

Hey guy this is a very interesting topic I was wondering if you have a copy of your presentation or the info atleast on treebuzz or you tube or email I'd love to hear more about this.

Thanks
 
Great Topic Guy!

Been doing retrenchment for a while now. Mostly with storm damaged trees and declining maples due to SGRs but also a fair amount of ancient farm-homestead sugar maples that are just plain falling apart. Nothing specific to hollow trees though.

Don't have many, if any, pictures but I can probably rustle up some anecdotal cases for you. Maybe even get some tree-owner input? Just let me know.
 
[ QUOTE ]
--clients are often just obstacles between me and the trees; hate to admit that...



[/ QUOTE ]

Try hypnosis. You know, look into my eyes, look into my eyes, kind of thing. lol
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
--clients are often just obstacles between me and the trees; hate to admit that...



[/ QUOTE ]

Try hypnosis. You know, look into my eyes, look into my eyes, kind of thing. lol

[/ QUOTE ]

That is great advice. Turn your eyes into mirrors, or looking glasses. I'll have to try that.
grin.gif
 
Hey Guy
I never really liked the term Retrenching and prefered rejuvenation or even reduction but now reading this again with the soldier analogy, I am warming up to it and most likely will use the term and the analogy.

Did you get everthing you needed from me its been awhile and can't remember?
Cheers
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hey Guy
I never really liked the term Retrenching and prefered rejuvenation or even reduction but now reading this again with the soldier analogy, I am warming up to it and most likely will use the term and the analogy.

[/ QUOTE ]The terms do overlap a bit but rejuvenation also refers to coppicing-type work that produces a vigorous response, and reduction is much more general, i.e. shortening a branch.

Retrenchment is more specific to older trees that need to 'grow down' to use Ted Greeen's apt phrase. re that, a podcast on the topic just came out yesterday: http://www.isapodcast.com/pod/ISA_DD040_061413.mp3
 
[ QUOTE ]
Not bad Guy!

jomoco

[/ QUOTE ]

I just picked myself off the floor...
blush.gif
did someone hijack Jon's computer?

The expo talk will have about a dozen examples; the 2 oaks were early ones for which documentation was close to adequate. Probably not a coincidence that those 2 were fully paid for...

Some see God in sunsets, some see God in skyscrapers. I see those new sprouts growing like that, and all feels right in the world.
smile.gif
 
You gotta understand somethin Guy.

I've always had tremendous respect and admiration for your tree knowledge, writing and speaking prowess right from the get go.

Simply because we might disagree on certain aspects of proper cabling and thigmomorphogenesis aspects of our profession? Does not mean we don't hold other fundamental truths of arboriculture in common.

Your writing and speaking skills are self evident to any knowledgeable veteran of our industry. Your ability to to put the more mundane aspects of teaching tree basics into an entertaining and humorous format that is appealing to a far wider audience of the public at large?

Right up there with Don Blair at his best IMO.

That's why the ISA needs experts like you mate, in a big way.

I may not agree with you on Cobra or Rigguy's worth or value to our industry in the field of cabling. But we agree on far more than we disagree on in arboricultural best practices in general mate. Bank on it.

jomoco
 
O I am not sure Don would want to hear that...

But thanks Jon for the kind words and I hope the look at trees's adaptations to animals in the recent Ficus story is of interest. like ~half the dendro stories it's based on a real life job, with some investigations into the science behind it all, to keep experienced arborists like yourself from getting too bored.

I just wish it had been the imaginary Codit and not me doing the ants-in-the-pants dance! and btw this avatar is from that job, a Eucalyptus robustus. That species is not robust at all in Hong Kong. Only a euc man could love it.
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E. robusta (swamp mahogany) seems to have very particular requirements for long term healthy growth, in fact it does not (in my experience) seem to demonstrate the longevity evident on many of its relatives 300yrs +.

With its preference for seasonally waterlogged heavy soils I suspect the urban environment poses some very serious challenges to this particular gum.

Having said that the timber from this species is used in construction and makes excellent firewood (it is dense and resilient)

I enjoyed the latest Dendro article not east because it was set in Hong Kong very close to my place of birth (Malaysia)

I have picture of a severe reduction on a E. tereticornis although we applied the principles of retrenchment and the tree was around 250-300yrs old the work was actually to enable the retention of the tree in the face of very close construction of a hospice and some absurdly risk adverse managers.

You should talk to David Humphries in the UK (Hampstead Heath)you can find him on Arbtalk, he has done a great many retrenchments on a whole range of species and has detailed monitoring of almost all those trees his crew has worked on.
 
Thanks Sean,

Prefers waterlogged soil huh; that explains why only 1 of dozens in HK did not look like crap; that one in Victoria Park, in a low spot. sad to see how many trees of 1 species can be poorly adapted to an area and suffer; victims of poor selection, like Quercus palustris in high pH soils.

Malaysia huh; wish i had seen a good diagnostic case in Singapore then! I do like getting him out of NC, US.

Would love to see the pics of the old tereticornis even if it was not hollow, and esp. hear how the risk averse mgrs were handled.

I 'talk' to David a lot and saw him and some of their work last summer; an amazingly high level of arb they practice there on the vets.

O and if a case in NZ has potential i'd love to work with you again. Cheers!
 
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