Waxing my crotch?

[Saucy]

Ive got large established Betula that is a Washington State champion in training in my front yard that I enjoy daily.

I clean the crotch of the tree several times a year to keep the ear wigs and the dirt out but is there anything more that I can do to help this old girl out?

The pictures dont really do the crotch justice but it probably has a 2-3 inch low spot in the middle that collects debris and those are my truck keys for scale.

Many thanks, Aaron

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[derwoodii]

Ha nice one:biggrin:, yet sadly your tree may be doomed as thats a tight crotch and could spell its demise. Need a few pictures of the tree canopy location etc to tell. If you could trim to lessen upper weight while keeping its form and consider a cable or bolting may help lengthen the trees future.

 

[treeseer]

Ha nice one:biggrin:, yet sadly your tree may be doomed as thats a tight crotch and could spell its demise. Need a few pictures of the tree canopy location etc to tell. If you could trim to lessen upper weight while keeping its form and consider a cable or bolting may help lengthen the trees future.

+1 Pic of whole tree would help.

 

[Saucy]

Ill get some pictures up tomorrow of the canopy as I have thought of cabling the four main branches before.

Other than cleaning the crotch is there any methods I should be doing to the tree?

Thanks for the replys!

 

[Saucy]

More Pics

So heres some more photos...

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On the second image I highlighted where the previous homeowner had an arborist come in and top the tree about 25 years ago which has actually healed in quite well. So well in fact that I hadnt noticed it until I talked with a neighbor that has lived on my block for 35 years and he mentioned it.

IMHO the topping has keep the canopy smaller and shorter than it would have been by now. Also I should mention that the Cedrus atlantica that you can make out in the first pictures foreground is the sister tree to my Betula and is 4-5 feet at breast height and takes a significant amount of the southerly's we tend to get up here on the top of the moraine.

Thanks for looking!

 

[derwoodii]

meh, not so sure its gonna need anything now, thats a nice enough shaped tree, just in two parts. While your union is tight I suspect the trees almost fully mature and if nuthin happened over past years likely stable as can be hoped for predicable future. Keep it a clean crotch perhaps consider a light loose rope/cable rig 2/3 rd up as storm failure back up and if ya want thin some canopy, but she'll be right sport no worries.

Will see what treeseer reckons he may have more state side species insight. Betula is light timber but strong in its bending return moment?? yes no...

 

[treemandan]

Don't do it. Its kinda fun at first but gets real itchy when it starts to grow back.


You might want to toss a support cable in that tree though.

 

[treemandan]

That is a pretty nice birch. Around here they take a beating from storms. Somewhere around 500, I could reduce its canopy a little too. It looks like it would be good to go around it with a bucket truck and a pole clipper.

 

[Saucy]

Im a little familiar with tree swaging as the University of Washington is near my house and has been cabling trees and pruning under the new arborist lately. They have been through bolting stainless eyes and large (2" +) washers to hold the bolt from pulling through.
They use some sort of high strand count poly rope but I was interested in what you guys think the best cabling is?
I would think that stainless cable that was swaged and then protected would be the longest lasting but perhaps it doesn't stretch enough?

Lastly, is this roughly where the pros would cable?

(rad drawing)
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