Is there an arborist in the house?

[Voivode]

I'm looking for professional, semi-professional or failing that just plain sensible input. Don't worry, I already know what I'm going to do and it involves professionals.

The story as you come into it:

My wife and I bought our first house, complete with big back yard and four big old trees; two birch, a mountain ash and a jack pine. The tree in question is one of the birch, pictured below

She stands about 15 metres tall, is forked at the base and has seen some pruning which has left it looking quite unbalanced

This afternoon, I was running our 4 month old Great Pyrenees puppy (whoo, that guy is a whole lot of work!) in the back yard and mucking about in the fire pit (seen on the left in the first picture) when I notice a big old crack in the base of the primary trunk!

I circled the crack in orange and leaned a spade against the tree for scale. It's about a metre long and looks to follow the grain.

I'm 99.9999% certain that means it is critically compromised and it needs to come out before it comes down on the garage or the neighbours house. The question is: Should I be out there with the chainsaw RIGHT NOW cutting it out as it is a bomb waiting to go off, or do I have some time?

 

[bambodoggy]

Hello There,

Hope this is of help. In all honesty there is no way to tell how long that crack will hold without actually being there to see it. From the photos I would err on the side of caution and have it taken down as soon as you can.
If you are confident to tackle it yourself with your chainsaw then fine but if not then call in a surgeon and get them to remove it.

It's not a tree I'd particularly like to climb and dismantle as the only branches that look big enough to attach myself too are the ones on the side of the split stem!

If you have room to do it then Id take down the smaller stem first, then hop up on your garage and attach a rope, partly to help control the direction of felling but also because from the photos it looks like the split side is overhanging the garage. Get the rope as high up as you can/dare and then fell that part with others pulling the rope for you.
If you have to climb it then be very careful about that split and don't jump around up there. Take the branches off as quickly as you safely can and then get yourself down again.
In fact unless you are experienced with dismantling trees then maybe best to leave to a surgeon to do.

The other way you might find easier/safer to do it is to again go up on the garage, again rope on one of the stems from the injured side and then as your partner pulls the rope you fell each stem in turn from the garage roof....that way you are doing it above the height of where the main fork is and reducing the weight on that split and even more importantly you have cut above where the main trunk moves sideways over the garage thereby helping to counter the overhang that the tree has created.
If you choose this way (and it's most likely how I'd do it) then you need to ensure a few things: The garage roof will hold your weight, you can get the rope high enough to be able to control the direction of felling, you have the room to fell the sub-dominal stem this way in your garden and most importantly of all you leave a nice strong hinge so that you don't loose control. I would use a hinge > shaped and even a little more open rather than the traditional 45degree one so that the trunk can fall below the cutting height without putting undue strain on the hinge. Also make the back cut quite high to help guard against the butt kicking back (make sure you fell it from the side and not behind it).

In short, that tree may stand happily for the next 5 years or more like that, on the other hand it might come down tomorrow (especially if you have any high winds to help it on it's way). I'd deal with it sooner rather than later if it was in my garden.

Hope that helps a bit and if you need anymore advice then please feel free to pm me.

Cheers,

Bam.

 

[Voivode]

Hey, thanks! I have no intention of climbing up there to DIY this project; If it was arrow straight and perfectly vertical I might consider it. With that overhang, I can just see the forces at work levering that whole tree over the shed and into the next yard, and I want no part of it! As soon as I saw it I was pretty convinced that this was one for a pro. Thanks for the input!

 

[billycan]

I' m a tree surgeon, it would be a fairly easy job to dismantle using spikes. The tree will never be any good due to the multiple stems, which are an inherent weakness as they grow. Birch never respond well to pruning and so a reduction or is not a good idea as it will die and it doesn't solve the problem of the crack.
You never can tell the extent of a crack or something similar, it could be ok for years, however it could also come down in the next wind.
You could remove the dominant (cracked stem) near to ground level if you wanted to maintain the tree for amenity value however birch are prone to rot, especially from a large pruning wound as wold be left by felling one of the trunks.