Extremely large, urban Black Oak issues

saveourearth

Hi,

I have posted here before about this poor old tree - two years ago when it developed a split. It has since been cabled. It seems to be doing fine, except for the subject of today's question:

A relatively small limb (~1.5' diameter at trunk) has developed a white fungus. The tree company I use said it is likely due to rot and should be taken off. Incidentally, the branch has leafed out normally.

The tree is located in the eastern U.S. (East Tennessee) and has a circumference of 18' and a height of 100'. For 15 years this reputable tree company (all certified arborists) has been maintaining and caring for this tree. It has two lightning rods and five cables to deal with a split in the crotch that occurred two years ago. I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars for their services during the past 10 years.

Anyway, I am beginning to wonder if I am getting milked. Today they quoted $1200 to remove one limb (see picture #1). This limb is 20-30' long and is 15-20' off the ground. Meanwhile, my brother in Boston recently had a large tree removed and two other large trees cabled -- a one-day job, for $1500. My arborist said it would take six hours to remove this single branch, at $200/hour.

Does this seem excessive to other arborists who may be reading this?

I should note that my town was hit with some tremendous storms (75+ mph gusts) two weeks ago. The storms knocked down a large number of mature trees, including a giant maple across the street from me. Half the town (100,000 people) was without power for 4+ days. All tree companies in the area have been working around the clock.

I have more pictures if needed. In "tree2.jpg", circled area contains a man climbing the tree, for an idea of scale. Arrow points to the branch. Lines represent where the cables have been installed. In "tree3.jpg", the picture was taken from my deck. The branch to be removed comes directly toward the camera, extending over the deck, but not the house.

Thanks.

Attached Thumbnails

     

Eric Frei

Sounds expensive for the work.

Reduction for the branch would be better than removal, a big wound with "fungi" present at the trunk is not good.

The branch is not over the house.

The branch might be able to be reduced back so it is not over the deck.

There is standards for pruning so one branch is cut back to another, ensure any reduction work leaves foliage on the limb, no stub cuts.

You could also cable/fall arrest this one branch for safety in addition to pruning and get many more years out of it.

Can you get better pics of this fungus? You can load up to 1000px pictures here and file size around 300kb. I'd laugh if it is lichen on the tree.

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saveourearth

Thanks Eric - I have attached three more pictures that I took today. Hopefully these will be marginally more helpful. The red arrows point to the subject limb, and the third picture shows a closeup of the fungus.

Attached Thumbnails

     

Eric Frei

The close up is too far and the shot needs to be from the top.

Oh well, I cant help much more.

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Brent Ferris

I agree with Eric, you need a closer shot, perhaps from an extension ladder. From what I can see of the limb, even as 1 1/2 ft diameter (and it looks smaller) I should think it could be removed in under 6 hours including cleanup. But shortening the limb will reduce the weight, and your fears of failure over the deck. The fungus appears to be along a length of the limb (6 ft?) and may reflect torsional splitting and damaged wood. Again, closeups from 5-6 feet away (or closer) would be best.

It is hard to know whether $200/hour is fair, since there is no specification of how large the crew is or what equipment they are bringing. BUt if there is a lot of storm damage work, to compensate them for being taken away from storm work,(usually extra pay) they may be charging more. If so, it is a short sighted decision,

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Alex Metzler

yep, erics usually right on about these things, when theres fruiting bodies visually present on the surface you can bet youve got decay internally. some fungi even live within the hosts vascular system, usually the tree isunder stress but in this case its just over mature and as the years take there toll the tree succumbs to the inevitable, more stress weekins the tree and at this point youve gone above and beyond caring for it you dont want to help it into decline now... the "downward spiral effect" old timers like this dont have plenty of reserve or vigor left to replenish lost foliage, i thinks reduction in this case is a better option aswell, it will be easier for the tree to compartmentalize and heal branch tissue as apposed to trunk tissue (suggesting it was proposed to be cut back to point of origin) getting rid of the branch wont guarantee ridding the fungi, it fact it wont even help and will do quite the opposite itl just open it up for a bugfest
good job saving the tree after all these years, glad to hear ol girthas still standind!

Alex Metzler

oh ya, the real question... its hard to tell by photos just how large the limb is but looks its anywhere from 18"-24" dia and 35'-40' in length (just guessing) so it may sound high but hard tell wo being there, also when the tree is in full leaf in the middle of summer its drawing up the most sap flow so its going to be the heaviest, if you do choose to subordinate id wait until fall to do it unless its a potential hazard, pest and pathogen easily establish themselves durring the summer season and itl be easier on everyone, the tree and the workers, ask your arb about reduction, it should cost less and could be done this time of year.