Help stop school tree topping

playfordtree

Perfect.

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Euthanizing South Australian Trees
since 2007

playfordtree

Put that letter straight into the hands of the principal this morning.
As luck would have it he was having a meeting with the facility co-ordinator later in the day.
(I think facility co-ordinator is the bloke that makes the maintenance decisions)
We might get a response sooner rather than later.
Watch this space.

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Euthanizing South Australian Trees
since 2007

playfordtree

Recieved a reply from the school a couple of days ago.
Nice to see something happen so quickly.

Looks positive so far, no mention of an education campaign though?

I will reply thanking them and ask to be "kept in the loop".

Later.

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Euthanizing South Australian Trees
since 2007

Eric Frei

Good, some-one is going to be in some deep doodoo when the arborist report is digested.

Thing about a private school is you dont have 2000 levels of govt people in the way.

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playfordtree

Not wrong about the private school thing.
If it was a goverment school, they would have to organise a comittee, followed by a think tank, then refer it to an adjudicator, then have the reply read by a review officer and so on and so on........

Mate i would like to name the Tree co. but i only have their name by heresy.
(the school groundsman told me)

If i got the name wrong, or if he told me the wrong name you could just imagine the legal ramifications.
If i slandered an innocent Tree co. on the internet i may as well put my head between my legs and kiss my ass goodbye.

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Euthanizing South Australian Trees
since 2007

Eric Frei

It would be the first case of it then, not one on a forum yet although some idiot outfit tried to do just that to the owner of internet forums whirlpoolnet here when people slammed some software for accounting.

The company that made the software posted but were struggling with sales and going down the tube anyway. They tried to have the posts deleted, no way, then they tried to censor the site etc and in the end they sued the owner of the site.

They dropped the case and it would have been an Australian first, many were watching, it would have been an infringement of free speech.

But the irony is if you do have a name you can easily check by ringing them and playing the game, saying you saw what great pruning they did at xxx school and wanted a quote for the same. They would have fessed up themselves, easy stuff. Then you got them by the balls.

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playfordtree

After seeing "Puppetry of the Penis" last saturday night.
Adelaide Fringe - TixHome

I have seen enough "balls" to last me a lifetime thanks.

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Euthanizing South Australian Trees
since 2007

Eric Frei

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playfordtree

I was picking the kids up the other day, and noticed that the significant tree that was subject to poor pruning, has had a limb failure.

The limb would have fallen right across the walkway beneath it.

Normal limb drop?
or,
Something more sinister?

I have written another letter to the school (see attachment below) thanking them for replying so promptly, and hopefully to keep the issue at the forefront.


This is the photo i have previously posted before the limb failure.



This is the tree today after failure.



This is a close up of the failed stub.




Just out of interest, the tree has suffered major root damage on the left hand side (of photo) as i outlined in my previous posts.
Wouldn't you do some corrective pruning to the right hand side to reduce weight and to reduce the chance of the tree toppling over?
As i showed before the tree co. has pruned a large limb from the left hand side.
Here's the photo again showing root damage and limb removal by tree co.





Could the tree have dropped the limb in an effort to balance itself?

Regards Simon

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Attached Files

Reply to school re Topping EDIT.doc (27.5 KB, 39 views)

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Euthanizing South Australian Trees
since 2007

Eric Frei

Wind failure

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playfordtree

Nah mate i'm full of wind, no failure here.


Oh,


You mean the tree, doh!


What about the pruning, wouldn't you prune the oppisite side to counteract for the loss of root stability?
Or am i missing something??

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Euthanizing South Australian Trees
since 2007

Eric Frei

Well, I dont know what the original grade was or if roots were cut? It might have been on a hill anyway.

The tree canopy is biased to the right in that shot so could be likely that right is North.

If right is north then those branches were torn off by a SW wind which coincides with 99% of storms.

If it were a SW wind then that wind would have been funnelled between the buildings and then buffeted by the tennis courts fence ... got that tree right in the soft spot.

The higher canopy (being above the buildings) most likely gets battered more consistently anyway and likely it adapted to the increased wind speed over roof tops.

The tree needed (as do many eucs) thinning and some reduction to targets where possible. It needed that 10 years ago, and 10 years before that too! They have a habit of over extending leaders with decent foliage on tips, then nature lops them.

Sure for increased stability prune the side opposite, but a little every year, which seldom happens.

Here in lies the "tree loppers cash cow" ... they'd be saying, "see, told you so." But we're all wiser now. Short fat branches are stronger, that now means tedious pruning but who cares? Now they'll prune that stub off. Likely get more bad advice and even take the tree out as it's "not safe" anymore.

With eucs a lot of times I think like this, if you can get a tower to them then you have putty in your hands, you can do marvels as you see in my pics, mould that tree. And I dare say tower access is granted there, pity they used it for butchering.

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playfordtree

The roots were severed during construction of the building on the left.
The construction co. got into a bit of hot water over it.
I'm not sure of the full story or what action was taken against them???

The right side of the tree (with all the foilage) faces west.

Haven't heard back from the school yet regerding my latest letter.

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Euthanizing South Australian Trees
since 2007

Eric Frei

Yeah so where the shot was taken from is north, that means a SW blow will get it just as effectively. However as far as a SW blow uprooting the tree not as likely as an E or SE wind, but they're seldom as strong. Strongest winds are usually W SW and N .... up here though we get predominent SE winds but I wouldn't say they're the strongest winds here.

If roots are clean cut, treated, and the tree nurtured they might just grow a few new ones.... like epicormics.

You'd check a year later to see.

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masterarbor

maybe it's all of those darn koala bears lion tailing the branches. BTW, those pics made my stomach hurt!

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Kevin Masters Certified Arborist
A Columbus, Ohio Tree Service
614-619-1569
www.MasterArbor.com

playfordtree

Photo is from the south.

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Euthanizing South Australian Trees
since 2007

Eric Frei

Now if the right is west, then the left is east, that means you are standing to the north.

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playfordtree

Oops!

The right side faces East.

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Euthanizing South Australian Trees
since 2007

Eric Frei

Aye aye captain.

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playfordtree

Here's what's left of the tree in the carpark.
(took the photo today)






R.I.P.

Attached Images

school topped tree gone!.jpg (26.0 KB, 109 views)

__________________
Euthanizing South Australian Trees
since 2007

Eric Frei

Nice to see some rain, hope it goes in your dams.

Sort of saw that coming, up here the Beaudesert Shire Council ordered a topping on two carpark trees at Jimboomba State School, totem pole jobs.

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second-gen_monkey

topping is all too common down there in sunny south florida where even the most "qualified" and best established companies (i really hate those guys in their orange trucks and iffy work practices but they got the advert money so they get the jobs)

i've been called to look at tons of trees, mostly black olives becase they "bush out nicely" that have been topped by "reputable" companies. when i tell the customer that the tree is now unseafe they say "well the company who did the job had a nice ad, full colour, glossy and everythin. you got a little box in my local paper. wouldn't they know better?". this is an actual paraphrase from a customer who called us back the next year when their "properly cut" tree shed the bad branches caused by their "quality job" onto their roof and new BMW.

in some cases i think it really is a conspiracy by some of the companies as they know the tree will rapidly grow "water sprouts" that will then need anual major thinning and reducing to keep the tree from tearing it's self to pieces, thus guaranteeing a repeat customer.

just my opinion from what i've seen in my short time in the industry.

Thdaoub

Good job!!