Old ReGrowth Red Maple

[treeseer]

Nate, you're obsessing. Not smart to take off adventitious roots like that; they did no harm. Put dirt back over the roots, followed by mulch--shredded hardwood maybe.

As that big wound shows, roots graft to roots, so roots do not "girdle" roots. Once you expose the root collar, no need to expose roots away from the trunk.

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Nate, you're obsessing. Not smart to take off adventitious roots like that; they did no harm. Put dirt back over the roots, followed by mulch--shredded hardwood maybe.

As that big wound shows, roots graft to roots, so roots do not "girdle" roots. Once you expose the root collar, no need to expose roots away from the trunk.

You mean those 2 I cut? Where I left the root collars on? Darn I figured it was such a large tree and the roots were so small that it was doing less harm now removing than over a period of time slowly using energy to graft itself. I did not know roots will graft to each other, so roots to roots fine, root to flares or trunk wont take a graft?

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

? ? ?

I was thinking about getting a truck load of manure and spreading it under the entire drip line then covering it with a truck load of mulch. Any input on thinning the canopy on that white pine? Also I have compared my two red maples to over 50 mature red maples in town ranging all over the place and I only found 2 others out of 100s that have the same buds as mine. Mine have literally the biggest and the reddest buds in town even other red maples that are as tall as mine (none of which have a trunk as massive) still don't have buds as massive. The only others that have buds like this at this time are extremely old like mine. I have been really observing them is this something heard of? Could they be the last standing mother trees for this area? They were probably planted around 1750

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Dead Limbs

Now that the buds are filled in I can see a few limbs that have new shooters with no buds. Do you think they are dead, they don't have crowns on the limbs that are like this the tips snapped off. There's a few but I took a video of 1 for example. The buds visible are off a branch coming from the trunk behind it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUv4wuJJrwU ​

 

[treeseer]

some branches slower to bud than others.

manure and mulch may be good but not a lot and be ready for a crop of weeds if manure is fresh.

mulching where you dug would be good

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

some branches slower to bud than others.

manure and mulch may be good but not a lot and be ready for a crop of weeds if manure is fresh.

mulching where you dug would be good

Thanks I did not know that at least its not dead, actually looking closer at that limb in the video this is at the bottom, heart rot:

Is the only reason you say not a lot of manure because of weeds? The more manure the better for the tree though?

Does mulch actually technically give the water that reaches the tree nutrients? Decomposing wood?

If so, I was thinking along these lines to cover up some of the root flares that I exposed to remove girdlers and allow them to breath. Take four 4x4 stubs using them as corner supports and bolt on 2x6's to make a square frame 6" tall all the way around the base probably 15' from the trunk to contain the mulch, this would not be considered volcano mulching because of how far down I have brought the ground all the way around that going up 6" would be comfy.

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

The return of the slime fluxing... grr.

Can I clean this crap out of here like I did at the bottom of the picture?

On the opposite corner of my block behind this guys house just as mine is behind my grandparents, there's a red maple in a marshy wet land (like mine) that seems to be taking up strikingly similar characteristics as mine being regrowth from a stump

 

[treeseer]

Nate, first cover up those fine roots that you have exposed away from the stem, with a little soil and mulch.

Too much of anything including manure is bad because big old trees do not like sudden change. Like your grandpa does not like the loud rap music when he has grown up on benny goodman.

yes it's good to remove loose dead funky stuff where you see it. No, not every wound/infection on the outside of the tree is a sign of heartrot in the core of the tree. many infections are active only in the outer sapwood in localized places like those crevices, where the tree wounds itself by included bark.

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Nate, first cover up those fine roots that you have exposed away from the stem, with a little soil and mulch.

Too much of anything including manure is bad because big old trees do not like sudden change. Like your grandpa does not like the loud rap music when he has grown up on benny goodman.

yes it's good to remove loose dead funky stuff where you see it. No, not every wound/infection on the outside of the tree is a sign of heartrot in the core of the tree. many infections are active only in the outer sapwood in localized places like those crevices, where the tree wounds itself by included bark.

I know I'm hoping to have the other side finished by the end of this week so I can build the retaining wall/barrier for the mulch. This is what I came up with 2 rolls of 50ft 2ft tall chicken wire I am going to cut into 4 rolls of 25ft(one for each side) then bend them over/down to 1ft tall x2 thick(overlapped to make double mesh). Then I will stake it and done

About the manure its not chicken manure fyi it's cow manure and its from a farm that has been composting a pile of it for a while so it's all broken down into what looks like and smells like dirt.

Well I KNOW that the inside is mushy and soft I can see of through a hole, and I believe the fruiting body's are pushing their way out through these holes again but I thought I had identified it as something just eating dead wood on the other side of the healthy cell wall. The tree seems to be compartmentalizing welly.

I also picked up some supplies for staking, four 10' 2x4's NON PRESSURE TREATED! and zinged them in half to make eight 5's this way I will have something to keep the walls up between the corner posts.

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

This is a satellite view of my trees canopy. Takes up a whole lot of space!

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

So I am trying to wrap this project up asap and get these guys covered up with a thin layer of mulch and some random scattered manure. This is the work I did the other day:

This is the only MAJOR removal of debris I did:

​

 

[treeseer]

way too much root exposure--re-cover NOW! you can double-triple that amount of compost, but mulch VERY SOON! mulch can go up to sides of big roots--like you see in nature.

i do not get the fence concept at all. bear in mind that sinking stakes damages roots even more.

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

way too much root exposure--re-cover NOW! you can double-triple that amount of compost, but mulch VERY SOON! mulch can go up to sides of big roots--like you see in nature.

i do not get the fence concept at all. bear in mind that sinking stakes damages roots even more.

Oops, now I think more I don't need the fence just a small edging strip I just like neat straight lines. I'm walking down the street RIGHT NOW to have a bed of mulch delivered TODAY will take pictures. Gotta run ~Nate

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Mulchhhhh

Treeseer I bet you will be happy to see this post, I got the mulch. Set me back $106 with delivery for 2 yards! I think I may have bought too much 1 yard might have cut it.

I told the lady I need something for an old growth tree that has never been mulched, something weak. She said I got just what your looking for and directed me toward some dark organic (undyed?) mulch she said it is a pine mix. This won't be too acidic will it?

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

I hope it's happy now

Just to triple check, we are still dealing with a acer rubrum correct?

I purchased 6 bags of composted cow manure and used 4 on this tree, there goes another $25:

I spread the manure around in quite a wide diameter, but THIN here is a spot sample on the thickness, how did I do could I have put down more?

Here is a series of before and after pictures (after manure/before mulching then after mulching)

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Here is just some after pictures with no before shots:

These are my favorite, I love the angle and those flares!

​

 

[treeseer]

looks great, but you will have weed heaven unless you mulch.

4" of hardwood ideal, or just rake back what you raked off...

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

looks great, but you will have weed heaven unless you mulch.

4" of hardwood ideal, or just rake back what you raked off...

? I did mulch ? That's 106$ worth of mulch right there you can't see it?
The before pictures are with manure the after is with mulch on top of it. I don't mind weeding I go out there everyday anyway just takes a bit of constant keep up.

Your saying 4" thick (tall) layer of mulch? I think I put maybe 1 1/2" of mulch I still have more left but did not want to give it too much mulch on its first mulching year ever.

Let me know ~Nate

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Update

This is my "little spot" I have beaten in a trail to the tree:

Here is where the largest & most horizontal limb on the whole tree meets the base:

Here is a closeup, concerns me with the heart rot:

What is up with the air root under the heart rot??

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Slime flux

That area at the base that slime fluxes, seems to go through dry periods. Correct me if I am wrong but, seems to be it fluxes the most on a windy day. Is this because the whipping wind flexing the trunks around puts the tree is stress witch results in the tree fluxing? On calm sunny day it dries up...