What is proper way to lower high up large limbs by tree service?
Comments (6)
Related Discussions
Bark grafts on large apple tree limbs -- aftercare?
Comments (2)Five branches at one point will be too crowded as they grow bigger. I'd take a couple off, but wait a couple months to see how the structure is present. Pinch off the inward growing buds now so branches grow outward and don't cross. Tape sticks around the branch to hold the new growth. New growth may grow a few feet probably more. Pinch the tips to promote branching as needed. You'll have apples to taste next season. Keep the taped sticks on the thinner branches for next seasons crop. I've got five new varieties of nectarines to try from bark grafts I did last season, lots of new apples pears cots and plums to try too....See MoreRoses that are suitable for "limbing up".
Comments (20)I am a horrible meddler with this sort of thing - definately, some roses are more receptive to this than others. My first major success (although that is probably only in my eyes!) was with a huge moyesii - an enormous shrub which is terribly stingy with basals and a tendency to have gaunt, rigid, thorny and totally bare 'legs'. There is now a Forest Pansy cercis growing as an understorey with Russian sage poking through while the whole crown of the rose towers above - it looks rather well. Encouraged, I started limbing up a few climbers (Meg, Altissimo, a huge Scharlachglut and Iceberg) - any rose which has sufficient rigidity does well - A Graham Thomas grows on top of a 7foot wall while mutabilis is underneath in my garden at home. It was a combination of necessity - having to use as much height while making the maximum use of the tiny growing areas available - and curiosity - I am addicted to mucking about with plants, especially pruning and grafting although hybridising is still a bit of a fail for me). Have only just managed to stop short of attempting espaliers and step-over roses. Roses which have not enjoyed this pruning and training regime(raising the crown, thinning out but definately not grown as standards or tree roses as such) tend to have a fair bit of multiflora - they just cannot be easily kept within bounds and take up too much ground area. Hybtid musks - well, Penelope shows promise (again, a bit mean with basal growth and exactly the right sort of sparse canes) while Moonlight or Buff Beauty are respectively too vigorous (the canes are too slender and long) or just too lax and sprawly. In shady gardens, a rose will naturally stretch for light so limbing roses is a way of working with the hand you have been dealt - in my tiny garden,Zepherine Drouhin, grows against a high north-facing wall and the entire height of the rose is naked and in shade - just a couple of long bare canes tight against the wall - white martagons, ferns and hellebores do a sterling job of concealing the canes) while at the top of the structure it arches forward over a 4 foot wide pergola, flinging out long laterals over the garden like a green roof. Previously, it was a mildewy mess but the ventilation increase of arching through the air instead of huddling against a dark wall has turned a problem into a triumph (slight hopeful exaggeration here). So, this is well worth experimenting with - Sophies Perpetual is next on my list as well as a very upright moss, Mme Louis Leveque. Will probably be having a good prune of Darlow's Enigma (as it is going to block the vegetable garden paths if not curtailed). Falstaff would definately be a good Austin to try. It is a fairly useful way of utilising posts, especially when traditional pillar techniques are not appropriate - I grow some roses absolutely upright and either grow a clematis or something like mina lobata or eccremocarpus or simply leave the upright canes bare as with standard wisteria - as long as the roses can make some horizontal growth over an arch, it will flower profusely. Hmmm, thinking about this question has made me realise that many of my roses are pruned and trained in exactly this way - a good way of maximising space and it looks, to my eyes, graceful and abundant if other planting is encouraged to fill in around the base of the roses....See MoreBroken tree limbs after large snowfall. :(
Comments (8)lets side step the issue for a second ... first... its YOUR house.. its YOUR yard .... BUILD A NEW HISTORY .... don't try to save trees/shrubs/etc ... for the history of it all ..been there.. done that.. what a nightmare.. until i removed all the prior owners problems .... i cant tell from the picture whether the width of the lot is defined.. on the right ... with a fence right behind the plant in question .... but i can see someone way out back .. and i see the fence on the left .... IMHO .... for what it is worth ... both plants on the right of your picture .... seriously impede the view of and use of your yard ... in my yard.. they would be totally removed .... dead.. gone .... presuming that the photographer is standing on the patio that you will be spending much time relaxing on .... why do you not want to see half of your yard .... if you see the wisdom [???.... lol] .. of that logic .... then proper ID and rescue of a much too large... poorly sited plant is irrelevant .... [BTWay ... are those two plants approaching the power lines also?] new house.. new yard .. new to the garden ... carpe yardum ... seize the yard.. start by getting rid of your problems.. start with a fresh canvas ... and think about planting something in front of that shed ... after a few adult beverages... peering out over your domain ... that thing is going to start bugging you .... lol ... may as well start hiding it this spring ..... now .. the tree on the left .... again.. cant ID it at that distance ... but it looks excessively old .... overly mature... and has a history of improper pruning ... you might want to think about removal of that one also ... every problem [your plants] has a solution [and the snow started it.. lol]... try to look beyond the immediate problem ... and focus on the potential that was created .... i know its hard for new homeowners.. and new gardeners have trouble accepting that things must die .... but my logic is.. if i replace 3 dead plants.. with 20 new plants.. mother earth is plus 17 ... dont worry about it ... my best advice ..... get out the lawn chairs .... and spend the next 60 days sitting on every inch of that patio ..... and spend time inside each window... and REALLY LOOK AT YOUR YARD .... try to imagine it with and without the plants .... move the chairs way back in the lot and look at the house ... sit everywhere .... think about what is there.. and where you want to go with it ... in the garden.. there is rarely any hurry .. we can kill that bush today .. or in spring [might want to see if it flowers] .. or in summer ... define a plan .. think it out... go to work ... good luck ken...See Moreproper way of planting tree
Comments (30)During the noon hour the weather guy comes on. He is very entertaining, he shaved his head and painted it purple to support the B'more Ravens. When he has some time to kill he gives gardening advice. Although he is not very credible I will say he keeps us laughing. I would expect him to lump cabbages, petunias and maples all together. Barerooting maples in mid-May is something he might recommend. Here is a reality check. Tree growers make a considerable capital investment in cold-storage units. The only use for these buildings is to store bareroot trees and keep them dormant until shipment or planting. Working in there is dark, cold and muddy. In my area field-digging has come to a screeching halt, everything has put on several inches of growth. Field-growers don't start their summer digging schedule until after the solstice when the growth has hardened off. A tree which is barerooted when it has fully leafed out is a dead tree in a matter of minutes. Here's a novel idea, if a containerized tree has circling roots why not reject it? Why should the customer butcher up the roots of a newly purchased tree? Have the pot removed at the nursery, if it is rootbound find another tree. Rootbound trees likely have been held over from the previous year (or two). Even when they are marked down, they are no bargain. If I bought an appliance, found it defective, I would return it. Only Homer Simpson would correct the problem by kicking it around. The preoccupation with barerooting container trees is entertaining, but like our weatherman, hardly credible. Sam...See More
janeway452
6 years agoThank you Embothrium P. and everyone. This has really been upsetting and yes, my blood pressure has gone up and my stress binge eating kicked into high gear. I'm trying to work through this, but it is a process. First of all, let me assure you that I take responsibility for my failure to get more estimates, but I guess I felt reassured by the very personable arborist with a "reputable" family of "tree professionals". I know I was wrong and should have been able to handle assertively the ongoing train wreck. I made my displeasure known to the guy in charge of the work, and I could tell that I was now the "bitch" customer, but I was not reassured by his saying they would take care of it. So, due to the long holiday weekend, I have put off calling the company. Just as well, as I need time to compose myself. Knowing that I am partly to blame because I did not ask the right questions, such as how the work would be performed, and not insisting on a signed contract with everything spelled out, has just added to my pain, shame and stress.
However, I feel that I was taken advantage of (not sure if that's the right word). The salesman, I will call Kevin, did not warn or caution me on the possibility of lawn damage, especially, severe damage. I'm a reasonable person and I know we're making omelets and there might be some broken eggs. He did mention a Bobcat, but again, not the consequences. He did not explain (an I ASSumed that the climber would lower the limbs by rope--that that is how it's done) that the climber would drop limbs from way up and that this might cause damage. I had decided to replace the tree that was removed closest to the street with a new tree. They would use a stump grinder and they would remove all the grindings (would leave if no transplant). Here again, I expected that the new tree would be back filled with new topsoil (if they didn't bring any, I had a whole pile they could have used!). I trusted that this would be done. I had to leave for about an hour and when I returned the tree was planted and they were finishing up putting down mulch. Like an idiot, I noticed that what was still visible looked like grindings (but my mind rationalized that what I was seeing was just on the top) and I didn't ask about it, like "you DID remove the grindings, right? or What did you do with the grindings?" It wasn't until I was unsuccessfully trying to go to sleep that night, that it occurred to me that these yayhoos had used the grindings to back fill. When I call I will insist that they return and replant the tree properly.
The crew chief actually asked me if he wanted them to rake up all the smaller twigs where the big oak was removed. What? I said, yes. If you don't, I'll have to do it. Again, I just assumed clean up, of course, was just part of the service. He then shouted back to do it and I kind of got the feeling that this was a real hassle and expected answer was no. They proceeded to rake with what I'd call "not serious" or professional rakes. In fact, this crew was totally reliant of using machines rather than muscle power. I saw a huge auger in one of the trucks when I returned which they must have used to plant the new tree. This was not a big tree. I hope I'm not being too judgemental, but my over all impression that this was a pretty lazy crew. Also, speaking of clean up, they made no effort to remove the large amount of (expected) saw dust. It would have really impressed me if they had brought some blowers and made a stab of removing all the sawdust from the front of my house--patio and sidewalks. No attempt to remove the sawdust in the grassy area around the tree closer to the street. I'm pretty sure this will kill the grass it if it's not removed.
I'm really worried that real damage has been done to the surface roots of the remaining oaks. I watched as a huge limb about 8 feet long, crashed down and speared the ground about a foot from trunk of one of them. Just the thought of the psi crashing down on the oak I am trying to save, after spending a lot to have it root fed by injection and the other way, is just outrageous. The Bobcat also exposed and shredded shallow roots that I think belong to the other oak. This was on a slope that the Bobcat had to go up and down many many times to remove all the limbs, most very heavy. Again, worried about how this will affect the tree and how this slope area can be repaired right now to prevent the erosion that is inevitable.
I want them to "make it right", but I'm not sure what I should ask for. How can they make it right at this time of year? Grass seed put down now is not going to sprout and will wash away before spring. Straw put down now will blow or wash away or compact before spring. Any topsoil put down now to try to correct the compaction will wash away before spring. Same goes for the swale, that I so carefully construction behind the retaining wall that I carefully reconstructed after years of erosion--all by hand, shovel and wheelbarrow, so necessary to handle drainage. It looks to me like it needs to be repaired by a
proper build up of topsoil and reseeded in the spring.
I agree, Embothrium P. that a neighbor's property is a neighbor's property, whatever they have on it. This neighbor has been cooperative on some of my other projects with prior discussion and approval, but very unpleasant when not. I still haven't talked to him, but again, this is another aspect of the whole disaster that is causing me a lot of anxiety.
I'll be calling Kevin on Monday. One of the questions I'm going to ask is, "would you have this kind of work done on your property with the use of a Bobcat on ground so soft, the damage caused by tree cutters not carefully lowering limbs and sloppy cleanup?" The answer would have to be "no". Who would? This has been one of the biggest and costliest mistake I hope never to make again. I also feel a responsibility to write an honest review on Angie's List. Hopefully, it will prevent any potential customers from making the same mistakes.
Sara Malone (Zone 9b)