Supported by the Arborcentre

UKTC Archive

Top 21 Gardening Sites
tree-care.info for tree advice

Re: Non invasive cable brace

Subject: Re: Non invasive cable brace
From: Jerry Ross
Date: Dec 22 2006 09:21:38
(I'm supposed to have signed off for the duration - just can't seem to
keep away from the old UKTC !) 

Scott Cullen wrote:

OK, I undertsand your point now.  Do you recall in the walnut cabling 
actualli initiated the decay?  Or was there evidence the decay pre-existed 
and the hardware installation allowed it to spread?
There were zones of dead bark spreading from around each insertion point
- oval areas of necrotic (and in some cases decaying) tissue on both
sides where the bolts passed through; they weren't present other than at
the bolt insertions and as far as I was concerned provided a very
positive correlation between making holes in walnut and causing damage
to develop.
The real point is how long the cabling extended the life of the tree.
In this case I was called in to take down the tree because a branch had
failed at the cable attachment - i.e. the cabling had effectively
shortened the tree's life.
If a non-invasive brace extends it longer at an acceptable cost it is - in those repects anyway - superior.
I quite agree... for walnut and a few other decay-prone species. (Horse
chestnut is another I'd be dubious about, especially using eye-screws).
But in most (over here, anyway) species , I'd still say that if you need
a cable that's going to be effective over a long period and be
unobtrusive, fit steel.
----- Original Message -----
From: Jerry Ross
To: UK Tree Care
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 12:00 PM 
  Subject: Re: Non invasive cable brace
On the other hand, the point I was trying to make about decay-prone
species was not that one should anticipate decay by bracing, but that
drilling holes will CAUSE (or rather permit) decay. In those cases I'd
certainly agree that non-invasive is better. I remember taking down a
Walnut with three cables fitted and at each bolt insertion there was
bark death and decay, with one branch having broken at that point...
(And as far as I recall, that was a case where the tree's original
structure wasn't such that the braces were needed in the first place.
The cabling had actually caused its demise!) 




--
J.P.ROSS B.Sc. F.Arbor.A
Arboricultural Association
Registered Consultant 
---------------------------------------
email: trees@xxxxxxxxxx.co.uk
The Old Pound, Llangarron, 
Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire HR9 6PG
Tel: 01989 770383
Mobile: 07860 232308
---------------------------------------
This email and any attachments is
intended solely for the attention of
the addressee. If it is received in
error, please accept the sender's
apologies & delete it from your system.
It would be appreciated if the sender
were to be notified of any such events
so that future errors can be avoided. 
---------------------------------------



--
The UK Tree Care mailing list
To unsubscribe send mailto:uktc-unsubscribe@xxxxxx.tree-care.info

The UKTC is supported by The Arbor Centre
http://www.arborcentre.co.uk/

Current thread