Thread: Cobra system

Now that all of you have given me an earful of knowledge I don't have, I would like a little information on the cost to installa Cobra system in a mature sugar maple.

It is a three-pronged one, that has been slated for removal, and I agree that it should unless cabled. I believe this would ad the necessary few years to allow the owner to plant replacement trees nearby and get them growing.

Anyway, the distance bewtween the stems, I would guess, is about 15 feet two-thirds the way up the canopy. Also, would all three be cabled together, or just two of the three legs of the triangle?

If the cost is significantly higher for Cobra, then I would go with the oft-used steel. As I said, the tree won't be there for, at most another four or five years.

I will also try and put a picture in, but my staff technology person (better known as Lynn - my wife) is sleeping! And I am here talking to you smart fellers (but ugly!) I'm the one that needs to be examined!

Gopher

Material cost is a little higher, but the labor cost is lower with the cobra. No drills and the splice is simple.

With Cobra each leg is seperate (Libra you can do triangle W/O cutting the line. But i don't know of anyone who carries it).

Fresco's Guardian system is cheaper then cobra and uses a simple Brummel splice and does not have the inserts that Cobra has, so even less time involved.

I would say i could do it in 1.5 hours while showing you if you dont need to pull the tree together.

How long do you expect to keep the tree?

I will find out on April 6th if we can keep it - I would say in the neighborhood of 3 to 5 years, probably not much more.

It is a terrace tree - it needs to be there to help keep another tree that is very narrow due to close proximity while growing.

I'll keep you posted - as I am sure they will have me do it if it can stay.

Gopher

What is the reason the tree needs support? Is there a crack?

This poor little thread was abandoned

Thought I would resurect it to ask if anyone does any DYNAMIC cabling??

I am assuming most knowledge here is limited to an ad in the sherrill catalog, etc since I see so little posted here.

I install, on average, 4 systems a week.

Any thoughts?

http://www.cobranet.de/en/index1.htm

Not nearly as many as you, maybe a dozen a year. Cobra is so easy to install. TreeSave gives me fits though, milking the fid through the center of the rope major PITA. Anyone have any tips to make it easier? If not, that gear will probably end up for sale.

DO you think installing cobra cabling is better for the tree, then drilling into the tree and installing eyebolts. i was told that the cobra had to be ajusted alot , meaning a year or two.

The Cobra system is superior. Just more costly.

What do you guys charge to install cable? Around here $500 per cable(steel) is pretty much what everyone charges.
I always have a hard time in my head justifying the application and don't sell cables unless some one really wants it. I think if a tree can not stand on it's own safely then it should be removed, if it is a hazard. Never installed cobra, but a friend I work with did and he loves it, very easy on the climber compared to steel.
Greg

Originally posted by bushman
DO you think installing cobra cabling is better for the tree, then drilling into the tree and installing eyebolts. i was told that the cobra had to be ajusted alot , meaning a year or two.

By the time it needs adjusting for girth, it needs to be moved. Same as steel cables. Just a whole lot harder to install steel.

Plus steel frequently causes failures.

I'v got a question:

Cobra is designed to expand as the tree grows. Each loop encircling a limb has a "growth leg" - an extra length of material that feeds into and expands the loop as the tree grows.

How does this work? I mean, why is it that the growth leg feeds into the loop as the tree grows, but does not feed into the loop during during the tension of high winds?

Steven

Good question, but obvious if you use it.

1st, lets start with the FACT no cabling system can be left alone. They ALL require maintenance and check ups.

So, the extra material feeds in and expands the loop when you climb up there and milk it through.

I find that pointless. These sytems are so cheap and quik, we just reinstall if they are very old. Plus their strength does degrade over time.

Hard to remove or install a steel sytem without damage. Not to mention a tree becomes dependent on a steel sytem do to the lack of reaction wood caused by the sytem.

A dynamic sytem allows a tree to build reaction wood.

.02

Hi Nathan

You wrote,
"Hard to remove or install a steel sytem without damage. Not to mention a tree becomes dependent on a steel sytem do to the lack of reaction wood caused by the sytem."

Could you expand on this as I'm a little confused by what you're saying.

I worked in Sweden 10years ago & installed far too many bracing systems, there also seems to be a good generated income in Germany for unecessary rope & cable systems! What do you feel about this?

Cheers Nod

Hey Nod!! Good to hear from you.

I was merely referencing that steel systems prohibit a tree from moving naturally with the wind, thus inhibiting the growth of reaction wood. So you end up with a stem no longer making reaction wood and quite possible failing due to the karate from a static sytem.

there also seems to be a good generated income in Germany for unnecessary rope & cable systems! What do you feel about this?

I couldn't agree more. But hey, in tree work much of what we do is for people not for trees. To make them feel "more safe". Or we nit pick half inch and smaller dead wood out so the trees "look better" or "healthier" (live oaks come to mind here). Some clients need a psychiatrist, not an arborist. Bottom line is the only 100% safe tree is the one that is chipped and at the dump.


I do mainly city contracts. We cable about anything with included bark. Especially if it bulges where they meet. I quickly get to the point where I think, "If it is so dangerous, why not just remove it?" I am not referencing specimen trees when I say that. I mean 18"dbh maples with terminal defects.

Unnecessary, yes, I agree. Fear is always a popular product to sell and "tree professionals" often capitalize on this.

As for me cabling so much when ordered to - I am very much just a monkey right now. A bit stuck in a rut at the whim of other "professionals". I never stay stuck in a rut too long. I always get out though I may have to sling mud or burn rubber to do so

Good points, Nathan. Do not let your experience in the tree be overshadowed by beaurocracy on the ground. Be politically savvy and help determine the outcome.

I have not done too many cable jobs, and have only assisted on one cobra system (a multiple attachment in a large tree.)

I still go back to the "Wye Oak", which outsmarted us all for about 460 years (1540 to 2002). There was something like 3200 feet of cable in that tree, and I'd like to think the arborists that cared for this tree gave us a few more years over doing nothing.

I still am looking for someone to get me some information regarding the soil type, and any information on who cared for the tree as well as cabled it.

Thank you.

Gopher