Street Shade Trees Root Flares

[PinkFloydEffect]

Thanks woodsmower

Ray they don't! haha or barley do these guy would have collapsed within 10 years now they have a more less timeless lifespan ahaid of them.

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Complete

Finally got this project finished about 12 hours deep at least, added a bag of compost/manure and some bark mulch, looks like it has a much longer life to me
Does anyone else think my dad's flowerbeds are a bit over the top? lol

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Ideas

After seeing me work on the previous street trees and seeing the results (the new shoots grew over a foot each in just a few month's!) he wants me to see what I can do about his street tree (they cut his other one down a decade ago). Basically after the ice storm of 2008 it brought down the main upper trunk leaving a pollard looking thing. I know it is bad to not have a main trunk (the tree snapped in half) and this will probably promote some sort of extreme heart rot but I am going to see how long I can save it.

The upper trunk is laying on the ground to the right:

This is the tree 2 1/2 years later, do a root collar correction and prune it a little...should be a survivor:

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Video

This is a HD video version/colashe of tree #1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vzfDogO-xE

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

July 1st Update

This was the first tree in the thread, has since dried up nicely and healed over:

Little deeper over here next year though:

The dead side of the canopy is filling in now, there was no new growth over here before the operation:

Tree #2 has dried up as well:

 

[treeseer]

Good work, retro-rocker!

:rockn:

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

I had a problem with tree #2 and the rain washing out all the mulch so this is what I came up with for now:

I've started working on tree #3, the crotch had a deep amount of soil in it with a plant growing out of it. Not good it was just containing moisture making it prone to rot:

See how deep the plants roots were!?

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Just 2 streets over a wind storm brought down a large limb off a tree with a plant growing out of it, just like my 3rd street tree! The crotch looks about as deep as mine was full of soil, I'm guessing weakening the branches top sapwood and cambium by the looks of the split?

 

[treeseer]

dont worry nate--that one had a lot of rot while yours does not.

good idea clearing that fork, and nice pics as always.

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Fall Check-up

So this is the first tree I was working on in this thread, easy to see the weak areas now:

This is the second tree I was working on in this thread:

 

[ThePruner]

That's a pretty healthy looking maple the initial one. Don't see so much think and healthy foliage around here.

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

That's a pretty healthy looking maple the initial one. Don't see so much think and healthy foliage around here.

You mean the second tree? The orange one? I exposed a lot of flare on this tree so if it was doing OK before then, I probably added a few decades to it's life span.

 

[brnchbrkr]

What can one say. ;-(

Looks like an uphill battle to me.

Maybe this whole mulch idea is over rated!

I am thinking the sidewalk asphalt crew has a tree removal side business close to your zipcode.

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

What can one say. ;-(

Looks like an uphill battle to me.

Maybe this whole mulch idea is over rated!

I am thinking the sidewalk asphalt crew has a tree removal side business close to your zipcode.

?

One of the reasons we bought the house was the large healthy maple in front of the house?

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Well, tree #2 really responded well. Check out all the flowers it dropped and helicopters! The same amount has fallen again since cleanup:

Compared to tree #1, pretty much no other tree on the street dropped as much as my #2:

 

[PinkFloydEffect]

Well... the town decided to pave our road, and as a tax paying citizen I have to say they did a lousy job but that is besides the point. They ripped a bunch of trees down between the sidewalk and road that fall under the city shade tree act, they had marked one of mine and I put up a fight to save it when they showed up the next morning. The avenue effect is slowly vanishing which is why we bought our house here!

I'm thinking about just going into the woods and digging up a bunch of young trees and planting them along my street, even a crappy Norway Maple is better then no shade at all but we lack oak trees so I may get some oaks...what grows really fast and makes good strong shade that I can find in MA woods?

 

[derwoodii]

Well

... the town decided to pave our road, and as a tax paying citizen I have to say they did a lousy job but that is besides the point. They ripped a bunch of trees down between the sidewalk and road that fall under the city shade tree act, they had marked one of mine and I put up a fight to save it when they showed up the next morning. The avenue effect is slowly vanishing which is why we bought our house here!

Sorry about that lad, its comforting to know in a werid sad way that road builders and their engineer bretherin are the same in your town as mine. You got to understand that they dont see trees as an asset, just a hindernace in making and maintaining their bitumen. But heres the rub http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/uesd/uep/products/cufr_673_WhyShadeStreets_10-06.pdf Shaded streets are happy streets
The Center for Urban Forest Research of the US Department of Agriculture looked into whether the temperature modulating effects of shade trees along roads could be translated into cost savings. And the answer is yes

They are a starting to come around to the idea of trees as good things, ever be it slowly.

Bat on sport & go plant a few nice big ones for any future Floyds to fight for...:msp_tongue: