2nd guess me on this

[TheJollyLogger]

If your going to go that far, make sure you fill any hollows with concrete too. :bang:

 

[NEKS Tree Svc]

Wt?

Thanks for responses.

I ended up talking them into topping it.

I'm also going to spray some white paint on the trunk to cure the rot and keep bugs out.

And put some fertilizer on.

Topping it? spray paint? Best rot cure you know of? Your actually giving a property management company advice, and thats the best you came up with? To top and spray it? McDonalds is hiring, its air conditioned. You wont be at this long :bang::computer2:

 

[supertopper]

"keep the damp out"

Made me laugh.

 

[supertopper]

Sorry

..."keep the damp from getting back in"

Still funny.

 

[Zale]

This guy can't be real.

 

[isaaccarlson]

wow. top a sick tree.......

 

[capetrees]

WHITE PAINT?? What are you, nuts???:msp_scared:

Anyone with any knowledge knows you use yellow for keeping damp out. Orange keeps bugs out, white cures fungus and yellow keeps dampness away!! Come on man, didn't you take the test?

Quick, tell me what blue does?

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Whatever you do, don't use blue! It attracts Smurfs! Next thing you know, they've built a condo in the damn thing and you'll never get em out.

 

[treesmith]

Blue? Isn't that for healthy microrising fingers?

Every time you top a tree it's good practise to cut into the bark an inch deep all up the stem, roughly every third spike mark.

This is excellent for lots of really heathy and vigorous growth, especially combined with high nitrogen fertiliser injections

 

[supertopper]

I'm not quite sure why everyone is so down on topping.
It is a rational compromise when someone wants to keep the
tree but doesn't want a lot of leaves to clean up, or
if the tree has become too large, etc.

If you know what you're doing and do it right (like cutting the
tops at an angle so water will run off and not rot them) it can turn
out fine. I think it's looked down on because most people just don't
do it correctly.


The concrete thing is a good idea someone mentioned too. This tree is
not hollow enough to shove chicken wire into yet. However, I have wrapped it around
the outside of trees and used spraycrete or mortar with some success in
the past. Again, you have to know what you're doing to get this right.

 

[T-rain]

is this "the Dan"?! he would know how to irk some people. By the way, I still think he should be allowed back into the mess called arboristsite that we all cant seem to get away from.

 

[treesmith]

I'm not quite sure why everyone is so down on topping.
It is a rational compromise when someone wants to keep the
tree but doesn't want a lot of leaves to clean up, or
if the tree has become too large, etc.

If you know what you're doing and do it right (like cutting the
tops at an angle so water will run off and not rot them) it can turn
out fine. I think it's looked down on because most people just don't
do it correctly.


The concrete thing is a good idea someone mentioned too. This tree is
not hollow enough to shove chicken wire into yet. However, I have wrapped it around
the outside of trees and used spraycrete or mortar with some success in
the past. Again, you have to know what you're doing to get this right.

Funnily enough, I was told by someone knowledgeable who I trust that England has so many veteran trees (mainly Oaks and Sweet Chestnut) because they were pollarded or coppiced regularly, kept them vigorous and long lived.

 

[sgreanbeans]

This guy is obviously trying to get some feathers ruffled. Topping, concrete, paint, etc. All the things that pro hackers do. Fur da reader, this is a fake thread. No one really thinks that it is good to top a tree, they are just having a bit of fun. If they do, then they are just another hacker with no knowledge of biology. Just a crackhead with a habit.

 

[pdqdl]

is this "the Dan"?! he would know how to irk some people. By the way, I still think he should be allowed back into the mess called arboristsite that we all cant seem to get away from.

He got crosswise with Gologit. As we all know, Gologit is not afraid to use the ban hammer.

 

[treesmith]

This thread has kept me smiling all day, I'm serious about pollarding/coppicing the veteran trees though, not that topping is good but that it's the reason some of the oldest trees are still around.

 

[imagineero]

This thread has kept me smiling all day, I'm serious about pollarding/coppicing the veteran trees though, not that topping is good but that it's the reason some of the oldest trees are still around.

Pollarding and topping are as different as amputation and decapitation. You are in no way establishing a pollard head by simply lopping the top off a tree. The two practices are also done for entirely different reasons. There's no sense establishing a pollard if you do not intend to regularly harvest what you are growing. I've seen a few places using that practice in australia, for easy harvesting of the foliage from the few very specific species of trees that koalas east, so that they can be fed in captivity. People top trees for entirely unrelated reasons.

Shaun

 

[treesmith]

From what I've seen people top trees mainly through ignorance, should be a crime. Worked in the woods in Sussex coppicing Chestnut for fencing, firewood and crafts etc good fun and most people just don't know how much land has old worked woods going to waste and in need of cutting. I grew up in the New Forest in Hampshire, the Oaks there were used to build warships for Admiral Nelson among others, lots of old misshapen trees. Hedge laying is becoming popular again too, it basically involves hacking halfway through a hedge at the base and laying it over and making a stockproof fence with stakes and rails taken from the hedge line, all the cuts sprout and strengthen the fence and the cut stems grow well too.
Topping is for people who either don't know or just don't care

 

[imagineero]

It is a crime in australia, and the penalties are heavy if you get caught. By some weird coincidence I did my first chestnut removal today. They're quite rare here in aus. I was expecting it to be hard as a rock, but it was soft as a pillow. The other nut trees we have are all super hard here.

 

[treesmith]

Was it Horse or Sweet chestnut, Shaun?

Horse, Aesculus Hippocastunum has large palmate compound leaves like a hand with big fingers, smoothish grey bark, soft white wood and the big beautiful flower candles. When the leaves drop the abcision zone is in the shape of a horseshoe. Useless except maybe for turning and inedible Conkers

Sweet chestnut, Castanea Sativa is very similar to Oak , the bark and timber looks similar and it even smells the same. Leaves look like large beech (Fagus) leaves. Beautiful timber which is hard and extremely durable, good for fencing or firewood as it splits easily and you can split an entire trunk with a wedge and hammer. This is the tree that was so widespread for coppice in old England as it's so useful. If you buy roasted chestnuts in London at Christmas they'll be Sweet

 

[imagineero]

I should have taken photos. I'm not familiar at all with different kinds of chestnut, it's only the second chestnut tree I've ever seen in aus. I saw a lot of chestnuts in korea, they're very popular over there for roasting. I googled those two species you mentioned, and it looks like neither. The leaves were not prickly at all. The nuts themselves were in longer pods which were smooth, not prickly and have 3-4 nuts per pod. Those species you mentioned look a lot like our macadamia trees - a prickly leaf, and each nut in its own pod.

Shaun