Root Rot

[BigJon]

This past week I was removing an ash tree that was noticeably dead with signs or some root rot. The tree seemed to have been leaning a bit on a nearby maple. I hung a lowering line high in a poplar tree nearby and climbed and tied into the maple. After examineing the situtation I found that there was no weight being supported by the maple. I roped the whole tope of the ash out into the poplar in a few good size pieces. I was standing on a limb waiting for my ground man to take the wraps off the poplar so I could pull the lowering line through and hang it on the ash to pull it over. Before he could get the wraps off the tree just decided to fall on its own. What a close call. I am just glad I left my redwings at the shop that day and wasn't wearing hooks that day.If I were wearing hooks that I fear I would have been standing on the ash and strapped to it. It was just another lucky day.

 

[Gerald_Beranek]

After taking all the weight out of the top I'm surprised the Ash fell. Particularly because your obsevations confirmed it was not bearing on the Maple. It seems to defy the rules. Yes, BigJon, you were lucky.
And old treeman I knew wrote a book, "Climbing trees can be fun. Sometimes". Gene Hendricks, Arena Press, 1981. I might be wrong about the date. Anyway, in the book Gene had many stories to tell, and after hearing your story about the Ash, BigJon I recalled one of Gene's stories. I'll make it brief. He and his crew was wrecking out quite a large Valley oak. They removed the better part of a big spar from the tree, came down to have lunch and then the rest of the spar broke off the tree! And it was sound wood. Make any sense? Gene explained it as water pressure within the oak overcoming the shear strength of the wood and bursting it. I've never seen it happen, but heard of it before from other old timers in the business. And the Valley Oak seems to be one of the prime candidates for it. Blue Gum eucalyptus also. Stories like these do not inspire confidence. Just goes to show you there's always more to it than the eye can see. Does anybody out there have a more detailed explaination of the water pressure phenomena?

 

[BigJon]

This is true there is always more than what we can see. I once had another close call. I was notching a top log out of a silver maple tree. I was only about 15 to 20 feet off the ground. The log was maybe ten feet long with a diameter of about 16 or 18 iches. I was working with just one other guy who was having trouble pulling. Since it was the last piece I decided to come down help pull. I ended up pulling the whole stem over. It split out at the base where there was included bark and some decay. I guess I am just lucky.

 

[dave_spencer]

Had a friend working on a crew during an ice storm, put a rope in a tree to climb, the rest of the crew was to fell the tree beside it. Friend waited in case the tree went the wrong way and hit his. Tree fell perfectly but on impact the shock wave traveled through the ground to the next tree with the rope in it and it just collapsed! Lucky the guy waited to go up!

Dave

[ February 19, 2002: Message edited by: dave spencer ]