Banyan trim gone wrong

[CacaoBoy]

I thought I'd share.

In Honomu, Hawaii, 2 miles from where I live is a park that had two massive banyon trees. A neighbor complained that the trees were causing problems. The county hired an aborist and crew to trim the trees to eliminate the problem.

How does this job look to you?

The article in the local paper said "Some community members expressed concern that the trees might be top heavy, Willow said, but an arborist said the trees are stable."

The follow-up article, a mere three days later, had this photo:

Apparently the arborist did not appreciate that the shallow roots of the banyan could not provide the needed stability after most of the aerial prop roots were removed. No one was injured, but it came down on a couple parked cars and power was out for several hours. Although only one of the two went down, the remaining banyan was then removed as part of the cleanup.

 

[JTM]

An arborist you say? Must not have been from around there.

 

[Brufab]

Thinking not much dirt on top of old lava flows

 

[Cogito]

I thought I'd share.

In Honomu, Hawaii, 2 miles from where I live is a park that had two massive banyon trees. A neighbor complained that the trees were causing problems. The county hired an aborist and crew to trim the trees to eliminate the problem.

How does this job look to you?

The article in the local paper said "Some community members expressed concern that the trees might be top heavy, Willow said, but an arborist said the trees are stable."

The follow-up article, a mere three days later, had this photo:

Apparently the arborist did not appreciate that the shallow roots of the banyan could not provide the needed stability after most of the aerial prop roots were removed. No one was injured, but it came down on a couple parked cars and power was out for several hours. Although only one of the two went down, the remaining banyan was then removed as part of the cleanup.

What is the point of pruning any branches away from the power lines if your going to leave any above? Limbs don’t tend to jump sideways but there’s this gravity thing that often makes them fall downwards. Damn that Newton fellow for inventing gravity.

 

[CacaoBoy]

Thinking not much dirt on top of old lava flows

This location on the Hamakua coast has very deep soil unlike the Puna, Ka`u, and Kona districts that are much fresher lava. The problem seems to have been that banyan trees rely on aerial roots to support the massive canopies. The two trees in this park had well developed systems of aerial roots that were removed as part of the pruning process leaving just a little cluster around the main trunk.

What is the point of pruning any branches away from the power lines if your going to leave any above?

In this case the motivation for pruning was not to provide clearance for the power lines. Rather the owner of a house on an adjacent property had complained about the trees overhanging the house. The county responded to the complaint by cutting back the growth on the side toward that house while leaving the canopy on the side away from the house. And I guess they thought while the crew was there it would be nice to remove the aerial roots to open up the area for better use by park visitors. They were two gorgeous trees. Now there is just an open grass lawn in their place. To the best of my knowledge the so-called arborist who supervised the project was never held accountable in any way.

 

[fishdrivel]

Thinking not much dirt on top of old lava flows

We had Banyon trees in Okinawa blow over even with deep "soil"
They grew pancake root balls and were very heavy.

Imagine an arborist moving to Okinawa and seeing the locals hack back trees and shrubs something awful!
That was until my 1st typhoon. That was eye opening. 2012 we had 3 Super Typhoons go straight across the island!

 

[ken morgan]

We had Banyon trees in Okinawa blow over even with deep "soil"
They grew pancake root balls and were very heavy.

Imagine an arborist moving to Okinawa and seeing the locals hack back trees and shrubs something awful!
That was until my 1st typhoon. That was eye opening. 2012 we had 3 Super Typhoons go straight across the island!

Dude the Typhoons on Oki were Epic in the 80's.... typhoon football out on the parade deck...we had one guy throw a 400+ yard pass, We know because we found the football several weeks later embedded n the bottom fo the fence by rt 58. We also had one guy thrown by the wind for about 70 yards or so... Fun times. there is a video from camp foster about 8 or 9 years ago of a car getting blown across the parking lot at one of the new barracks there. just blew the car across the lot at about 4 or 5 miles an hour.... Sideways!

 

[ken morgan]

@Brufab check this out. on camp foster a few years back...

 

[ken morgan]

 

[Brufab]

Holy heck @ken morgan that's some crazy stuff. Thanks for the videos. No wonder a football went 400+ yards.

 

[fishdrivel]

Dude the Typhoons on Oki were Epic in the 80's.... typhoon football out on the parade deck...we had one guy throw a 400+ yard pass, We know because we found the football several weeks later embedded n the bottom fo the fence by rt 58. We also had one guy thrown by the wind for about 70 yards or so... Fun times. there is a video from camp foster about 8 or 9 years ago of a car getting blown across the parking lot at one of the new barracks there. just blew the car across the lot at about 4 or 5 miles an hour.... Sideways!

I was there! Very eye-opening!
My new young boss gave notice that the typhoon had passed and time to go to work.
I went out to my 4WD and saw a 2" galvanized pipe blow by. I went back in.
I called my team and told them to not come in if conditions are still bad.

Every leaf on every tree and bush was blown to China on the north end of the Island. Eerie.....

 

[ken morgan]

I was there! Very eye-opening!
My new young boss gave notice that the typhoon had passed and time to go to work.
I went out to my 4WD and saw a 2" galvanized pipe blow by. I went back in.
I called my team and told them to not come in if conditions are still bad.

Every leaf on every tree and bush was blown to China on the north end of the Island. Eerie.....

Yep I was headed to nago during one typhoon I was going up north to the inlaws house my 280Z was blown from the far right lane over three lanes to the far left... and I was only doing about 50 km's so 25-30 MPH? I damn near crapped my pants

 

[fishdrivel]

Yep I was headed to nago during one typhoon I was going up north to the inlaws house my 280Z was blown from the far right lane over three lanes to the far left... and I was only doing about 50 km's so 25-30 MPH? I damn near crapped my pants

I was driving to Camp Schwab one morning and made an unplanned lane change. Was not a typhhon but was enough to call team and tell them to stay at Foster!.
oorah!

 

[ken morgan]

I was driving to Camp Schwab one morning and made an unplanned lane change. Was not a typhhon but was enough to call team and tell them to stay at Foster!.
oorah!

who were you attached to? I was 3rdLSB, 3rd FSSG while there in the 80's

 

[fishdrivel]

who were you attached to? I was 3rdLSB, 3rd FSSG while there in the 80's

I was a civilian working for the USMC. Was a special program. I had a Colonel for a director but he theoretically was not my boss.
I was listed as under MCIPAC but not really either......