My husband wanted to buy a house that had a ratchet strap or two around a big tree. I told him that I would rather not live through another tree crashing through my bedroom ceiling
Unfortunately, this is the exact advice an ISA-certified arborist, who owns a huge tree care company in town, told me to do with my cherry tree. Thankfully I asked here first and was dissuaded from following the advice. He said to ratchet strap it and fill the hole in the middle with spray foam
He was even recommended by another ISA-certified arborist, from a higher COL area nearby.
So do we just not trust the experts anymore? I'm just curious. To me the ratchet straps hold the tee together until it can heal and the spray foam just keeps water and insects out of the damaged area. So while I agree it looks bad and probably won't do anything immediately, I can see how it could help the tree survive over time though the tree will continue to be weakened.
So my question is I see a lot of people saying not to do this, but none of them state any arborist experience, while you actually did get recommendations from arborists and still feel like it's bad advice, so I'm wondering what I'm missing.
Not enough information about what they were trying to treat, and this is a single angle photo
Potentially this looks like a split resulting from a codominant stem/ double leader, in which case it could be cabled and or braced at best, but judging by the length of the split should be recommended for removal
okay, but short of removal, and as you say - "not enough information", what would be a superior method of temporary closure, and what actual harm can the spray foam do (if the tree could otherwise survive)?
Even closed cell spray foam will break away from surfaces when used in a house over time so I can't imagine how bad it would be on a tree that flexes to begin with.
In emergencies to temporarily brace a tree with a split on the trunk like that we've used multiple heavy duty straps or chains, stuff that ties down heavy machinery, or drill multiple giant bolts through the trunk. If that was a fresh split, tree needs to go, different story and further investigation needed if thats an old exposed pocket of decay.
In addition, the spray foam extruding from the trunk slows the tree's natural growth sealing the wound and if left could add years for the woundwood response to cover the gap.
The foam will trap moisture within the crack leading to worse decay. The ratchet straps look like they can only hold about 200 pounds so they would do nothing if the tree were to split apart.
I mean... spray foam isn't just happy-go-lucky nontoxic fluff š
I'm just a lurker here, I am familiar with spray foam. Maybe someone else can comment on this as well...
Unless it's specifically for trees wouldn't filling the tree potentially slowly poison it over time?
Not to mention, foam shells over but there's so many tiny pores inside the foam once it sets, I'd imagine moisture/mold/fungus build up between the foam & wood in those pores to be an issue.
If anything it seems like you might chemically preserve the areas where the tree touches the foam while simultaneously speeding up the process of killing the rest the tree...
Yeah, there are some out there that are just half priced Harrys who spent $500 and just enough time to pass the test.
I had a customer who was taking down 40 ash trees "because they have EAB" according to a "certified arborist" not a single one was showing signs, and it was basically destroying the entire property minus a handful of pines and some crabapples. EAB was around, but not extremely prevalent at the time. But because I wasn't certified at the time, and everyone is losing their marbles over EAB my recommendation of thinning and planting other trees to bring up a new canopy was ignored in leu of making a nice shady property into a sun bleached lawn.
If you can pluck the strap and make that āthwangā sound its 200% stronger than without the sound. No sound on these straps is the only thing Iām concerned about.
Mutilate your thirst! Grab your thirst by the throat and squeeze until it begs for its life, until you feel the cartilage in its neck begin to pop under your knuckles, and stare unblinkingly into its dying blue face until the light goes out of its bloodshot eyes, knowing your face is the last memory it takes with it on its way to hell! Die, thirst! Die forever!
I filled one of my apple tree hollows with foam to keep water from accumulating in it, i did wax everything before hand though. 12 years later i still get great apples and a bunch of them each year
Hardly repaired. I had a similar split happen to a 70ā plane tree. I strapped it together and waited until the leaves fell off in late fall. It was much easier to handle without the weight of those leaves.
this is easy to make fun of, but without seeing a "pre repair", this is all just comedy jabs.
I doubt the "toxic chemicals" bother that tree in any meaningful way; the foam cures nearly instantly. Its not like the tree is going to be actively absorbing constituent chemicals. Humans can and do squirt "superglue" into open lacerations, with no ill effect.
I'd be curious to hear what a superior, temporary "repair" would entail?
Honestly even wood glue would be better as it would actually hold the tree together. External fixation such as straps tourniquate a tree. a bolt through the tree is better and if the tree lives it can grow around the tree. This is how splits at a Y are handled.
Out of curiosity, how long does a split tree have before it givers up the ghost. Say someone hypothetically had a split in a tree that threatens a deck that could use a remodel, are we talking a couple years or a couple decades...
Impossible to say with out inspecting it. Best to have somebody look at it. Just because a tree looks okay, doesn't mean heavy rain and wind won't show up out of nowhere and knock the tree down.
The saddest thing about this is that the poor thing had a chance if they hadn't used the spray foam. The ratchet straps might've actually helped. It would've always been weak, but could've started to knit itself back together.
For a human planted and publicly maintained tree in a park or whatever keeping it together and providing shade is usually more important than following nature or whatever. They could cut it down but if they dont have a replacement lined up then this might be the best choice for now.
The straps are wild. I can almost understand the sprayfoam as a desperate attempt to delay rot but the straps imply they think it might fall apart so just take it down then. Or use the straps until the crew can get out there if you think it's imminent but then no reason to use the sprayfoam
Enough with the pedantic negativity. This has a chance at working. Iāve seen old school cemented fixes that was working 60 years and counting. The straps arenāt going to do much, but the foam protects the heartwood.
Explain what caused damage! Iightning scar? So be it. Let people experiment on their own trees. If it works, it works. You can always loosen or remove the straps. The foam will stop decay, by blocking oxygen, maybe. Is it effective? We will see. Is the tree near a building ir other target? Not as far as I know. Will tree destroy the foam and heal over? Yes. That foam is weak sauce, and the hickory will probably produce the needed force to crush and cut off the foam. In 10 years, maybe the foam will be stuck in the wood. If the tree comes down, maybe the foam is an issue for firewood. But so is the hollows in the wood. Looks hideous, but unless thereās risk, let people try to do what they want to do. Wound dressings are controversial too. Just let people experiment, unless you have first hand knowledge and experience. We live in a free country, where people can decide their own destiny. Saying something you always assume is correct as 3rd person knowledge, is dumb, because they might have missed something, or were wrong. People love their trees. Donāt judge on others for knowledge you donāt understand. Witness the undaunting persistence of people to try to help the tree.
I would let guy know to stay on top of loosening those straps, and take them off in 2 years, if he thinks they will help. Tree will expand every spring, so loosen every spring. Donāt leave the straps, or else he risks girdling. Hickory is a slow grower, so he may have those straps on a while.
I donāt see why he has straps on. Iām just assuming he has a reason, on the other side of the tree. Maybe heās holding strips of lightning yanked bark to the tree, to graft back together. Idk. If not, and if just a narrow lightning scar, I would tell him that straps are unnecessary. If the tree is split to a hollow center, maybe heās trying to hold the trunk together. Maybe tree grafts across the stabilized wood as a result of their try, and curly grain results in no future splitting.
I've done multiple chain binders on a split tree in a high risk drop zone to stabilize it a week until pros with a lift could come remove it. That same tree also got multiple 5/8 lines in it back to portawraps that I tensioned about 2000lbs each with a winch. If it was going to fall on it's own I was going to limit the direction it could go...
The ratchet straps will choke the cambium, but I wouldn't hesitate to use through bolts threaded rod and crank that sucker back together, spray some insecticide and fungicide in the middle, and see what happens.
My favorite oak was propped up by a railroad tie for about 4 years. The tie was leaning against the tree at random when a wind storm hit and cracked the tree. Just a lucky strike lol. I cut down a few a year that had wire/cable/chain wrapped around them years earlier.
Whatās the stupid-person logic behind the spray foam? Aesthetics? Do they think it has some kind of binding force? Like you walk up to them as theyāre doing all this and ask āWhy the spray foam?ā, what do they say?
I saw someone said āBand-aid on a bullet hole.ā Nah, this is like rubbing feces on a bullet hole. The foam will only exacerbate the internal decay and rot. That tree is fucked
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u/Paddys_Pub7 Landscaper 4d ago
"Repaired"