Agree with both your reasoning and the conclusion. A storm has just brought down the two oldest trees in our neighbourhood. Both ash, the older estimated to be 300-400yr old, it predates Napoleon, Beethoven and the USA. And urbanisation too - location is not far off the centre of a city of 600,000 (Bristol, UK) and nearly all of that population has arrived in the last 100yr. The council wished to fell both of these 16yr ago and a coalition of local residents with arb support managed to stay its hand and to give tenure to the woodpeckers, nuthatches and violet click beetles for a little longer. We all felt it was well worth the small risk to keep these majestic trees, though we failed to persuade the council to agree to replacements in anticipation of today.
At the end with your “can you trim my pine” that really made me remember how I thought of trees before I became really thoughtful of them. I’m trying to learn more about spruce and fir trees because I’ve gotten pine trees in the learning bag and know red pine, white pine, jack pine, and others that are native near me (Wisconsin) but man, there are so many Norway spruces around me and it’s kinda disappointing to see so many non-native trees, while in their beauty, are likely breeding a future problem. Anyway have a wonderful day.
@ my suggestion to you (at this age), is to realize how your body will change and develop in the next 6 years. Start a routine of exercise that will be transformative for your future. When I turned 16, rock climbing was my passion. I did pull-ups every night. Gathered with friends who all pushed each other to do more. Your upper body strength is so important.
@ If you lived with Dan, you trained every night. Mark came over most nights and we started when I got home from work about 9:30. We did pull ups until we could do no more. We worked on one armed pull ups with a rubber inner tube as a support for the other arm. As you got stronger you held down lower on the tube until you didn’t need it anymore. I remember Dan could do four with his right arm and three with his left. This so inspired me that I vowed to work hard until I could do a one-arm pull up and join the ranks of “one in a million”. After about six months of really hard workouts, I finally pulled a one arm with my right arm. That one arm pull up felt like winning a gold medal to me. I was able to keep that strength up for about eight years after that. I never could get one with my left arm.
1. It's their tree and if they're willing to live with 'what if' (as you would say), and you, in your professional opinion to mitigate the risk of a failure, I see nothing wrong with what you did at all. In fact, more tree services should be open to these kind of compromises. 2. We forget that elder trees that are in a state of decay provide a purpose to the environment, in that they shelter wildlife such as birds, squirrels, racoons, bees, etc. Anytime we can preserve habitat for them is a win, imho. 3. If the tree does fail, it would do property damage, but it wouldn't destroy the house, or kill anybody inside of it. 4. Yes, Blair you are THE best channel on arboriculture on YT. No contest!
I don't know entirely why. But for some reason I really like the fact that you aren't afraid to really pull back and expose just how bad sketchy rotting trees like this are. I believe I would agree with you here. Unfortunately elderly people don't have the time to wait for a new tree to become large enough to shade the house. If it were younger folk, absolutely no problem removing it for a fresh start. With the work you did the tree is much safer, as you like to say. For the unique situation here I believe you made the right choice.
I love your videos! I’ve always loved trees in how they grow what kinds there are. I’m known as the tree guy around my work and family. But I’ve learned quite a bit from watching your channel! You give a lot of great info and I love how you talk through the process of what you’re doing and why you do it! Keep it up I enjoy it. Have a blessed day!
LOL I lived behind two huge redwood trees in Marin County. Marin is famous for redwood trees, right - Muir Woods, etc. You would think people here would know what one looks like. Well, I would give people my address and say the house is just behind the two redwood trees, so you know when you are getting close as you just have to look up and you will see the redwood trees. Not many tall trees on my street and no redwood trees for miles. But, still, there were those people who could not find my house.... Thanks for the videos, Blair. I enjoy them.
I think they call this "re-trenchment" pruning. I think it's a very good idea considering the state of the tree. The only other alternative would be to guy down the tree to heavy cement blocks and prop every large branch, which is likely way too expensive. Do you think the tree would benefit from radial fertilizing and de-compaction? The idea being that better root growth would invigorate the tree and allow it to outrun the decay. Just in case the residents make it to 100!
@@batmantiss I hear you, which is why I did this presentation and explanation. You know me and you know I would not start this procedure unless there was just cause. Last ditch effort here. As always, I appreciate your continued input.
My mom has a fruitless mulberry in her backyard that I would love to remove; however, the tree has been there since she moved in 55 years ago. Now she doesn't want to lose the shade and doesn't think it's worth waiting for a new one to grow up.
@@PelicanIslandLabs good question. it’s important to understand the species that you’re working with. The Modesto Ash is recognized as a tree that will sprout back from hard cuts. Well, it’s also understood that the hard cuts will lead to long-term decay, in this case it’s the only option that we have left to save a declining tree. So yes by summertime this will be a reasonably full tree in two years time. It’ll be a nice shade tree.
I would rather watch your content than the crazy stuff, so thanks for doing what you do vs the crazy bits. :) I finally made it up to 534 subscribers, so I am catching up to you (slowly) :)
how can one extend the life of a similar tree? I have a Black walnut in my backyard I want to keep strong. I have families of hummingbirds in several trees around me and I am always apprehensive about tree trimming
Analyze the extent and depth of the decay as well as the healthy tissue. Then determine how much weight and leverage needs to come off in order for the stump tree to persevere. Protect the lower sprouts during the hard pruning process. Good luck! Blair
@@arboristBlairGlenn my black walnut has no visible decay. I guess just keeping the weight off the horizontal limbs then? Some of the branches are rather long and when full of walnuts get so heavy it weighs the branches so much lower.
I have a black cherry tree with two major limbs. Last year a storm broke one off the tree. Helene took the other this year. I was heartsick about it. I looked up yesterday while working on the hurricane damage in my woods. There was a new sprout coming out of the broken 12" limb! I'm ecstatic! I absolutely won't cut the trunk down. This poor tree is trying so hard to survive and I will let it as long as it keeps trying! I still want to throw up about the two dozen large trees that are knocked over.
@ funny thing Blair, I’m actually working for a client today that has a very old Modesto ash in her front yard that I have been working on for 25 years. They have done all the pruning I recommended & even removed the immediate lawn around the tree about 10 years ago, GREAT CLIENTS. Have a great & safe day Blair!
Keep it in the Landscape as long as possible, right? Even if you’re in your 20s, you could die tomorrow I’m all for the retrenchment: it will grow back and can be retrained, but you can never buy a tree of that size at the nursery
Ash is pretty solid stuff; the live stuff anyway. You’ve reduced it significantly; it won’t be dumping over anytime soon, it’ll definitely die before it fails again. I’d be curious to see how it shoots back in the spring.
I think I'll try being crazy with chainsaws. Maybe that'll get me hundreds of thousands subscribers. 😆😉 Just kidding Blair. You'll be at 50k subs in no time.
@@arboristBlairGlennI’m at the waiting game I can’t even do official tree work yet because I’m too young. I do have a great interest about trees and it’s really fun to look at the window of the car on the highway and know, “yeah, that’s a jack pine,” or, “that birch has disease.” I know that birch bit because my birch tree at my house started having the living bark peel off the wood, so I began searching for what it was, I also noticed that the top leaves were small and not looking great. Those are indications of bronze birch borer, a native bug that gets into trees that are already struggling. Luckily, I got my parents to treat the tree for the bugs and it got fertilized and something I never expected happened. The darker grayish white branches are becoming more white and become papery again. It is wonderful to know that because of my concern I found out a disease and how to diagnose it before I even start treework!
If that tree was here I would not hesitate to say cut and replant, especially having homes in the fall zone. Sentimental value has some merit, but the tree was already established when they moved in, I might have a different feeling if they planted it and it grew with them, however being the practical sort, I'd still prefer to opt to plant a new tree and give it a good start.
Showing compassion with these older people is truly wonderful. Thank yu for doing so.
I looked the mirror and thought, yep, I’m older too😳
Love your channel. Its the education factor.
TH-cam is full of so much crap. I’m trying hard to keep it real. Thank you
Agree with both your reasoning and the conclusion. A storm has just brought down the two oldest trees in our neighbourhood. Both ash, the older estimated to be 300-400yr old, it predates Napoleon, Beethoven and the USA. And urbanisation too - location is not far off the centre of a city of 600,000 (Bristol, UK) and nearly all of that population has arrived in the last 100yr. The council wished to fell both of these 16yr ago and a coalition of local residents with arb support managed to stay its hand and to give tenure to the woodpeckers, nuthatches and violet click beetles for a little longer. We all felt it was well worth the small risk to keep these majestic trees, though we failed to persuade the council to agree to replacements in anticipation of today.
@@falfield sorry to hear about the ancient ones
At the end with your “can you trim my pine” that really made me remember how I thought of trees before I became really thoughtful of them. I’m trying to learn more about spruce and fir trees because I’ve gotten pine trees in the learning bag and know red pine, white pine, jack pine, and others that are native near me (Wisconsin) but man, there are so many Norway spruces around me and it’s kinda disappointing to see so many non-native trees, while in their beauty, are likely breeding a future problem. Anyway have a wonderful day.
@CoolGames012 how old are you?
@ 14 I can get an apprenticeship when I’m 18 though
@ my suggestion to you (at this age), is to realize how your body will change and develop in the next 6 years. Start a routine of exercise that will be transformative for your future. When I turned 16, rock climbing was my passion. I did pull-ups every night. Gathered with friends who all pushed each other to do more. Your upper body strength is so important.
@ If you lived with Dan, you trained every night. Mark came over most nights and we started when I got home from work about 9:30.
We did pull ups until we could do no more.
We worked on one armed pull ups with a rubber inner tube as a support for the other arm. As you got stronger you held down lower on the tube until you didn’t need it anymore.
I remember Dan could do four with his right arm and three with his left. This so inspired me that I vowed to work hard until I could do a one-arm pull up and join the ranks of “one in a million”.
After about six months of really hard workouts, I finally pulled a one arm with my right arm.
That one arm pull up felt like winning a gold medal to me. I was able to keep that strength up for about eight years after that. I never could get one with my left arm.
@@arboristBlairGlenn Wow! Were you at all disappointed about your left arm or no?
Great job. Professional approach. Owners benefit, tree gets more time and importantly a longer term wildlife habitat! 💪
Yes it does!
1. It's their tree and if they're willing to live with 'what if' (as you would say), and you, in your professional opinion to mitigate the risk of a failure, I see nothing wrong with what you did at all. In fact, more tree services should be open to these kind of compromises.
2. We forget that elder trees that are in a state of decay provide a purpose to the environment, in that they shelter wildlife such as birds, squirrels, racoons, bees, etc. Anytime we can preserve habitat for them is a win, imho.
3. If the tree does fail, it would do property damage, but it wouldn't destroy the house, or kill anybody inside of it.
4. Yes, Blair you are THE best channel on arboriculture on YT. No contest!
@@jamesmilligan7804 thanks James. Sometimes I second guess my advice but I feel pretty good about this tree surviving.
I don't know entirely why. But for some reason I really like the fact that you aren't afraid to really pull back and expose just how bad sketchy rotting trees like this are.
I believe I would agree with you here. Unfortunately elderly people don't have the time to wait for a new tree to become large enough to shade the house. If it were younger folk, absolutely no problem removing it for a fresh start.
With the work you did the tree is much safer, as you like to say. For the unique situation here I believe you made the right choice.
@@OBS_Ford_Diesels_Inc thanks. As always, I do appreciate your continued support👍🏻
I love your videos! I’ve always loved trees in how they grow what kinds there are. I’m known as the tree guy around my work and family. But I’ve learned quite a bit from watching your channel! You give a lot of great info and I love how you talk through the process of what you’re doing and why you do it! Keep it up I enjoy it. Have a blessed day!
I glad you find my efforts valuable. Thank you
@ yessir and thank you for sharing!
LOL I lived behind two huge redwood trees in Marin County. Marin is famous for redwood trees, right - Muir Woods, etc. You would think people here would know what one looks like. Well, I would give people my address and say the house is just behind the two redwood trees, so you know when you are getting close as you just have to look up and you will see the redwood trees. Not many tall trees on my street and no redwood trees for miles. But, still, there were those people who could not find my house.... Thanks for the videos, Blair. I enjoy them.
That’s because they see pine trees
I think they call this "re-trenchment" pruning. I think it's a very good idea considering the state of the tree. The only other alternative would be to guy down the tree to heavy cement blocks and prop every large branch, which is likely way too expensive.
Do you think the tree would benefit from radial fertilizing and de-compaction? The idea being that better root growth would invigorate the tree and allow it to outrun the decay. Just in case the residents make it to 100!
I say, “Let it be”, no fertilizer. Can’t out run decay.
If I drove past that finished job I'd have a bone to pick with the trimmer. But knowing the reason, I approve.
@@batmantiss I hear you, which is why I did this presentation and explanation. You know me and you know I would not start this procedure unless there was just cause. Last ditch effort here. As always, I appreciate your continued input.
You did what you had to do within the wishes of the homeowners, good job!
@@phillyfathead thanks Philly (at least I didn’t call you “fat head”😬
your right
My mom has a fruitless mulberry in her backyard that I would love to remove; however, the tree has been there since she moved in 55 years ago. Now she doesn't want to lose the shade and doesn't think it's worth waiting for a new one to grow up.
Well, it’s her tree
Sometimes thats just the call.
Will that tree sprout out this next year??? Just wondering how long will it take before there is substantial green?
@@PelicanIslandLabs good question. it’s important to understand the species that you’re working with. The Modesto Ash is recognized as a tree that will sprout back from hard cuts. Well, it’s also understood that the hard cuts will lead to long-term decay, in this case it’s the only option that we have left to save a declining tree. So yes by summertime this will be a reasonably full tree in two years time. It’ll be a nice shade tree.
YES, Your videos are always interesting and entertaining
What does that lock icon mean? Thanks
@@arboristBlairGlenn Thank you for reply, I'm not sure what you mean.
I would rather watch your content than the crazy stuff, so thanks for doing what you do vs the crazy bits. :) I finally made it up to 534 subscribers, so I am catching up to you (slowly) :)
@@josephkrug8579 hey, we all start somewhere
and....the end of the day ...some choices but in the end it is what it is and we do what can do
I will revisit it next summer to see how well it does.
how can one extend the life of a similar tree? I have a Black walnut in my backyard I want to keep strong. I have families of hummingbirds in several trees around me and I am always apprehensive about tree trimming
Analyze the extent and depth of the decay as well as the healthy tissue. Then determine how much weight and leverage needs to come off in order for the stump tree to persevere. Protect the lower sprouts during the hard pruning process. Good luck! Blair
@@arboristBlairGlenn my black walnut has no visible decay. I guess just keeping the weight off the horizontal limbs then? Some of the branches are rather long and when full of walnuts get so heavy it weighs the branches so much lower.
I have a black cherry tree with two major limbs. Last year a storm broke one off the tree. Helene took the other this year. I was heartsick about it. I looked up yesterday while working on the hurricane damage in my woods. There was a new sprout coming out of the broken 12" limb! I'm ecstatic! I absolutely won't cut the trunk down. This poor tree is trying so hard to survive and I will let it as long as it keeps trying! I still want to throw up about the two dozen large trees that are knocked over.
Never been in a hurricane. Sorry. My son lives in Tampa Bay and was evacuated. He got lucky.
Well that's a hard decision
@@dankotos61 you’re right. They asked me for my honest opinion. I did a base crown inspection and made a judgement call. Safe enough? Hope so
If the tree is not going to be a danger to the home, then leave it. IMHO
@@ldqa2737 when a client asks you “is it safe”? Or “how long until it is no longer safe”?
Hope it could be saved but not likely. Beautiful tree in its long life
@@D71sj I give it another five (maybe ten) years if they don’t let it get too heavy on the decaying base.
Unfortunate that 20 sqft of grass cost that tree its structure & eventually its life 😢
@@woodpeckerarborist don’t see too many 70 year old Modesto Ash. You probably know that all Modesto Ash are clones and they are all male trees?
I always appreciate your input and comments Brian.
@ funny thing Blair, I’m actually working for a client today that has a very old Modesto ash in her front yard that I have been working on for 25 years. They have done all the pruning I recommended & even removed the immediate lawn around the tree about 10 years ago, GREAT CLIENTS. Have a great & safe day Blair!
Keep it in the Landscape as long as possible, right?
Even if you’re in your 20s, you could die tomorrow
I’m all for the retrenchment: it will grow back and can be retrained, but you can never buy a tree of that size at the nursery
@@japanesemaplepruning BUT-- the decay will win
Ash is pretty solid stuff; the live stuff anyway. You’ve reduced it significantly; it won’t be dumping over anytime soon, it’ll definitely die before it fails again. I’d be curious to see how it shoots back in the spring.
UH OH on the large tree in the Power lines
Yup
I think I'll try being crazy with chainsaws. Maybe that'll get me hundreds of thousands subscribers. 😆😉 Just kidding Blair. You'll be at 50k subs in no time.
Well you’re at 65k subs so you must be doing something right!👍🏻
@@arboristBlairGlennI’m at the waiting game I can’t even do official tree work yet because I’m too young. I do have a great interest about trees and it’s really fun to look at the window of the car on the highway and know, “yeah, that’s a jack pine,” or, “that birch has disease.” I know that birch bit because my birch tree at my house started having the living bark peel off the wood, so I began searching for what it was, I also noticed that the top leaves were small and not looking great. Those are indications of bronze birch borer, a native bug that gets into trees that are already struggling. Luckily, I got my parents to treat the tree for the bugs and it got fertilized and something I never expected happened. The darker grayish white branches are becoming more white and become papery again. It is wonderful to know that because of my concern I found out a disease and how to diagnose it before I even start treework!
@ cool game have a first name? I will watch for your comments
If that tree was here I would not hesitate to say cut and replant, especially having homes in the fall zone. Sentimental value has some merit, but the tree was already established when they moved in, I might have a different feeling if they planted it and it grew with them, however being the practical sort, I'd still prefer to opt to plant a new tree and give it a good start.
@@alexb.1320 but the owners are at the very end of their life. Safe enough? I think so.