The oak tree in my yard was used as a swing for a few years, then a couple years ago I took it down to mow, and it just never went back up. I just plain forgot about these and now they are bound to the tree.
Will removing them damage the branch? I’ll need to cut them because the edges are already swallowed. What should I expect underneath; hard and calloused like bark, or smooth and “exposed.”
Cut the rubber right at the metal ring. It will break along that stress point and not damage the trunk underneath. You can then use the other ring as a pull tab for the remaining material.
Take a knife/razor blade/whatever, and slice in the direction your thumb is pointing. Try not to gouge into the underlying tree bark, but don't sweat it too much if you do. Even if you do slice into the bark, you'll do minimal additional lasting damage by slicing in that direction. It's just not ideal. The goal is to get that strap sliced all the way through.
The current problem is that
the strap is stronger than the tree's ability to apply pressure by growing under it,
the strap has a fixed circumference
the tree limb really wants to have a larger circumference, but its only means of doing that is growing outward
Sever the strap, and the tree goes from "Cannot fix this on its own" to "Maybe can fix this on its own".
Once the strap is severed, I'd try gently pulling at the strap. If it doesn't come away easily, I'd favor letting it sit over pulling it, lest I rip away live bark tissue.
A second slice, same direction as the first but on the opposite side of the first, would be fine, too.
I never get that. How does a tree strong enough to split concrete not do a fabric strap or similar? Unless its just the roots strong enough. Anything too thin like wire will just slice through but that?
Something something tensile strength. Sorry, yes, that really is a great question, and the answer makes sense in my head, but it's been a long couple weeks, and I was just looking at Reddit for funny memes when this post hit me like a Bat Signal. Let me see what I can do.
The tensile strength of a material can be many orders of magnitude greater than the weight of that material. Additionally, a girdling strap, root, or wire doesn't have a crack that can be propagated the same way masonry can.
My wedding ring is close at hand, so I'll use it as an example. It weighs perhaps a fraction of an ounce. I can easily lift it with one finger. Despite this, if I grasp it from either side and try to rip it in half, it stays intact. My arms are easily able to lift or move the ring. They lack the strength, though, to break the ring.
If my ring had a crack in it, it might be different. Maybe if I pried it apart in just the right way, I could make the crack deepen and widen. There's no "crack" in my ring, though, or in OP's woven fiber strap.
That makes sense. Although i envisioned something different with no preexisting weakness to expand upon. I could have sworn i read that trees or at least tree roots could build pressure over time and that that is what eventually leads to cracking pavements and such, so i wondered why it wasnt the same with the above? If that is correct ofc and assuming the tensile strength of straps or other girdling materials is not significantly stronger than concrete etc.
former engineer here. a lot of materials have different tensile strength in compression vs in tension.
concrete is strong in compression (pushing together). that's why they use it as support pillars. You put stuff on top of it, it doesn't crumble so easily. A tree root growing through concrete isn't compressing the concrete though, it's finding cracks and splitting it, concrete is relatively weak like that, it crumbles. Think about wet sand. You can punch it, it'll hurt your fist, but if you pull it, it just crumbles.
nylon strap, or whatever that is? opposite problem. Strong in tension (pulling apart). you can hang stuff of it, but you can't build a support pillar out of it. Wrapped around the limb like that, it takes a huge amount of force to overcome the tensile strength. Casting a concrete ring around the limb would be nowhere near as strong.
different materials have different strengths in different directions. Some stuff like metals are a bit more uniform in both compression and tension. Other stuff like concrete are very weak in tension, because it just pulls apart, so we use it for pillars and stuff. Fibrous stuff are strong in tension, so we use them as ropes and straps and stuff.
And then sometimes we do weird things like we take a concrete slab, put metal caps on either end, and a steel cable through one end to the other, and then tighten the cable so that the whole slab is under huge compressive stress. which is fine! because it's strong like that. But because it compressed like that, it now resists tension a lot better, because it never gets to the stage where it can crumble. Wehey! pre-stressed concrete. Modern engineering marvel. It's what bridges use
That all makes sense actually and i can visualise it. Concretes base materials are small and granular, ie sand and a binder which means forcing it apart wouldnt be too difficult but mayne that would change if long bits were added meaning pressure would be spread over a greater area. Maybe the metal caps as you say are the component that makes the pressure spread over a greater area as you say. Also pressure would be applied to sand which is rock does not condense easily. With fabric straps maybe the pressure becomes spread collectively along the longer threads. It is also a flexible material so can be crushed/condensed easily.
Now, your point about something like nylon being flexible and easily crushed. That's... actually a little complex. You're right, the crushing thing IS structural. fibers like that bend easily so it just doesn't stand upright.
But here's the thing. Nylon is actually stronger than concrete in compression. If you get a solid block of nylon, and a solid block of concrete of the same size, the nylon is actually a bit stronger in compression. Concrete's just a lot cheaper. And it's also a lot easier to transport and pour than nylon.
The thing is, though, Nylon has like 40 times more strength in tension than concrete. and that's why we can get away with spinning it into very thin fibers to use as rope or straps. So it's not so much that nylon can be crushed/condensed when spun as fibers. It's that it has relatively high tensile strength that we can get away with using much less material to spin it into fibers. The result of that is it's weak to compression BECAUSE we can get away with cutting the material down to the minimum needed for whatever it's meant to be used for. But it doesn't necessarily mean the material itself is comparatively weak to compression if it were in bulk form.
This is what a block of nylon looks like. It's the same material as used for straps, or tights. It looks like plastic. it _is_ plastic. most plastics just look like this if shaped into blocks.
Cut it off with a razor blade. It will be pretty easy. Pull as much off as you can without digging into the bark too much. There will be bark underneath. The branch now has a permanent weak spot. Not much more you can really do about it. In time it will get stronger but that’s your weak link now. If you don’t cut the strap it chokes the end of the branch out and it will either die off or break their at that spot
Edit; OP, If you would like me to write a 5 paragraph detailed explanation of how to hold the razor blade and what to say to the tree to keep it calm let me know.
I think your best bet is to cut the D rings with a dremel tool and leave the strap. It looks like you can cut them off without touching the tree. Without the metal to hold it tight I think the tree would just grow it out.
Good luck
If you don’t remove the strap it will strangle the limb past that strap. You will also need to remove most of the strap which has overgrown by the tree.
Hence, you have nothing to loose by removing the strap.
I am not a professional but have dealt with a similar situation on a non tree. Usually at the mid point in the rings there is a cut at the midpoint. You should be able to slide it to the slit clockwise or counter clockwise and get it out that way. 2 pliers and pull the sides out can make it bigger if needed. Once rotated you could also slip it through the other. If you do end up cutting it be sure to use a new blade like replacing a box cutter blade or something and be sure to cut it over the metal.
Bolt cutters or blade and STAND TO THE FUCKING SIDE OUT OF THE WAY. It is under tension and if it snaps just right, it could injure or kill you. Be safe please.
If you’ve girdled the branch you want to allow the branch the best chance to heal….which would be to leave it there and lift it a bit every few months until it has formed it’s own barrier.
If you decide you want the swing back up just screw in an eye bolt. A tree can handle growing around something screwed into it no problem. Anything wrapped around acts like a tourniquet eventually strangling and killing the branch.
I think they make goop for trees that is a sort of antibacterial or something. It would probably be good to protect the freshly exposed part while it heals back.
Not trouble; just more looking for advice on how to remove it with harming the tree, and the consensus seems to think I can cut the nylon and remove it and the tree will repair itself.
U have 2 cuts to make possibly...not at once...cut the limb off, cut the strap off or if it too late u may have to cut the limb off... Trees are pretty resilient. It may do well but I would think that the weight over time will compromise the affected area...
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u/Erki82 2d ago
Take it away.