Protecting a damaged tree

[beamdune]

Recently, a number of 'street trees' have been planted along my road by the Red Rose Forest Trust.

One of the local hoodie brigade has ripped off the lowest branch and surrounding bark, leaving a nasty scar. I'm sure one of their equally mentally challenged chums has been picking at the bark along the edges of the scar.

Without attracting too much attention, thus inspiring further vandalism, is there anything I can do to protect the damaged area?

 

[JonnyP]

You could use the homeopathy approach......Take one hoodie and wipe over the damaged tree.
There is some stuff that is sold in the garden centers that you can apply to damaged trees to stop any infection, it is a bit sticky, so the hoodies are likely to leave it alone, can't remember its name, ask at the garden center..............Jon

 

[forrester]

I support Jon's homeopathic approach .... if only :AR15firin

Feral kids have been destroying the trees in our communal gardens - especially irritating since we all have to pay for the upkeep. I have found that in most situations a good shout seems to do the trick........I always make sure i have my retreat planned just in case though! !

 

[JonnyP]

You could always apply tree grease on the trees. I think thats what its called, its used to stop insects climbing up them and is really sticky, or plant some berberis around the trees, they don't like that up them..............Jon

 

[led]

The current thinking is not to cover the wound, but let it heal naturally. Putting anything on it can actually lead to bigger problems sometimes.

 

[P@ul]

There is some stuff that is sold in the garden centers that you can apply to damaged trees to stop any infection, it is a bit sticky, so the hoodies are likely to leave it alone, can't remember its name, ask at the garden center..............Jon

In the past I have used a product called arbrex.

P@ul

 

[JonnyP]

The current thinking is not to cover the wound, but let it heal naturally. Putting anything on it can actually lead to bigger problems sometimes.

I was not aware of that. I have often wondered why farmers hedges grow as well as they do after the flail has been ripping into it, so current thinking is probably right..............Jon

 

[beamdune]

Thanks guys, though I'm not sure what to do now.

It's quite a big scar on a young tree. The protectivefence that goes round it stops short of the damage so it's easily picked at. I don't think the tree has the luxury of being left alone heal itself.

The kids were hanging about yesterday and to be honest they're more than big enough to be intimidating so telling them to p*ss off isn't really on the cards. The back and side windows of my car were the victims of some mindless vandalism last year - I think I would've preferred it if the culprit was actually trying to steal something - and I think confronting these kids could result in broken glass.

 

[bambodoggy]

The current thinking is not to cover the wound, but let it heal naturally. Putting anything on it can actually lead to bigger problems sometimes.

Led's right, that's the latest advice on tree care from Wisley (the authority on trees). If the branch has been snapped off then use your folding saw to trim it off just outside the collar (ring of thicker bark where the trunk meets the branch), that is to say leaving the collar on the tree so that it can slowly close and seal round the wound.

If it's a young tree and has been badly damaged then there isn't much more you can do.

I happily challenge anyone of any age doing things they shouldn't, I once made a group of teenage lads take down all the glass bottles they'd lined up on top of the kids swigs and marched them across the park to put them all in the recycling bin lol. To be fair I always have my little poochy with me too

Hope that helps,

Bam.

 

[JonnyP]

Led's right, that's the latest advice on tree care from Wisley (the authority on trees). If the branch has been snapped off then use your folding saw to trim it off just outside the collar (ring of thicker bark where the trunk meets the branch), that is to say leaving the collar on the tree so that it can slowly close and seal round the wound.

If it's a young tree and has been badly damaged then there isn't much more you can do.

I happily challenge anyone of any age doing things they shouldn't, I once made a group of teenage lads take down all the glass bottles they'd lined up on top of the kids swigs and marched them across the park to put them all in the recycling bin lol. To be fair I always have my little poochy with me too

Hope that helps,

Bam.

Little poochy ?...........LOL..............Jon

 

[Wayne]

You might want to contact the local tree warden if you have one.

 

[British Red]

Nice hound Bam (whats he got against people carrying firesteels though? )

 

[forrester]

Loving your work Bam!

Can I hire him for a few days - some of the ferals in my area could learn a recycling lesson!

 

[Dougster]

Unfortunately, teenage youth in Britain seems to have taken a new tack on life. I'm convinced - working in secondary education - that they are different from their overseas counterparts. The British variety or 'Lesser brained hooded street tit' as twitchers (sorry teachers, twitching through continued exposure) like to call them are more apt to have a pop back at you. I'm not sure Abbe's tactics would work here. Unless you are a very big bloke with your mates from the rugby team with you.
Whilst it galls me, and going against tree healing thinking - actually fix it with the glue in front of them, and say to them: 'Look fellas, much more and this tree is dead.' MAY get the point across, appeal to their better nature, even if it seems there isn't one.
If not, take photos of them doing the damage quietly, with a digital camera - those softly softly powers that be need an awful lot of evidence to issue an ASBO. Don't let them see you or your car will have a long silver, paintless line down the side or something similar.
Recent media headlines show that you are more likely to get stabbed and at the very least a torrent of abuse if you square up to them. Poochie would also face the same fate - or if he bit them, the long needle down at the vets.
Dear God - what a society we live in, can't even speak for the trees.

 

[falling rain]

A couple of weekends ago I taught a group of 6 bad lads bushcraft for an afternoon. These are really bad lads. They all had electronic tags and HAD to come along to the event as it was part of their rehabilitation programme. There were 3 carers/staff so 1 staff to 2 lads ratio. That's how bad they were. They are all one step away from prison, in fact one of the staff told me one of the lads was facing 8 years, but didn't tell me what he'd done. My point is that despite their incredably short attention span 4 out of the 6 showed a remote spark of interest in what I was showing them. 2 couldn't have given a damn and one was escorted home because he was seriously mis-behaving and being a complete pain in the butt. They swore all afternoon and put on a show of bravado because their mates were there. In the end one lad got fire by friction, he got an ember and blew his tinder bundle into flame. He didn't actually realise what he'd done and I told him that that was a great thing he'd just done. He didn't really seem to care and immediately went back to listening to his puff daddy on his iPod. The others had a half hearted attempt and gave up immediately, but just having a half hearted attempt was apparently amazing for this lot, so one of the carers told me.
I was pleased with the day and the staff told me that these kids had actually showed (by their standards) a lot of interest, and to be honest with you I actually found myself liking a couple of them, once they'd opened up a little we had a good laugh on their level. All bar none were from very troubled families. I dislike hoodies as much as the next person but I don't beleive all of them are a lost cause they just need to be guided.

 

[pibbleb]

I was just about to say that we have trouble with hoodies where I live but I'm guessing that's probably the same pretty much everywhere.

Whilst it goes against the grain, I would notify the local authority and have them deal with it when the hoodies are busy avoiding which ever place of education they belong to. The importnat thing here is your safety. I'd hate to here about beamdune the statistic!

Good look to you and the tree!

Pib

 

[Seagull]

Beamdune, this sort of mindless damage, is a sad fact and its oooooh so easy , and understandable, to get wound-up by it.

I don,t think theres anything you can usefully do, that isnt going to result in some sort of confrontation; at least, I,ve been there a few times and ,on reflection, I rather wished I hadnt.

What I do now, is plant something, somewhere: sort of trying to convince myself that its a way of balancing things out.

Yeah, for sure its a shame.

In the past, I,ve tried to save a few examples of native hedging; Doing the right thing and going about it proper-like.
To no avail.
It near broke my heart to see a mile of very old red hawthorn and elm, just grubbed out by tractor, doused with petrol and burned.

This was not the doing of a group of miscreants, this was "development"

But, hey! the road is wider now! and thats the thing, isnt it?

Go and plant summat, somewhere safe; bid it good fortune and come away feeling all the better for it.

Ceeg

 

[Wayland]

Go and plant summat, somewhere safe; bid it good fortune and come away feeling all the better for it.

Ceeg

I think that's very good advice.

 

[Dougster]

say to them: 'Look fellas, much more and this tree is dead.' MAY get the point across, appeal to their better nature, even if it seems there isn't one.


I just meant - and I wasn't very clear. Do it to point out what they did, more often than not they'll be OK about it. They might see the value of the tree, if only to you.

 

[Abbe Osram]

A couple of weekends ago I taught a group of 6 bad lads bushcraft for an afternoon. These are really bad lads. They all had electronic tags and HAD to come along to the event as it was part of their rehabilitation programme. There were 3 carers/staff so 1 staff to 2 lads ratio. That's how bad they were. They are all one step away from prison, in fact one of the staff told me one of the lads was facing 8 years, but didn't tell me what he'd done. My point is that despite their incredably short attention span 4 out of the 6 showed a remote spark of interest in what I was showing them. 2 couldn't have given a damn and one was escorted home because he was seriously mis-behaving and being a complete pain in the butt. They swore all afternoon and put on a show of bravado because their mates were there. In the end one lad got fire by friction, he got an ember and blew his tinder bundle into flame. He didn't actually realise what he'd done and I told him that that was a great thing he'd just done. He didn't really seem to care and immediately went back to listening to his puff daddy on his iPod. The others had a half hearted attempt and gave up immediately, but just having a half hearted attempt was apparently amazing for this lot, so one of the carers told me.
I was pleased with the day and the staff told me that these kids had actually showed (by their standards) a lot of interest, and to be honest with you I actually found myself liking a couple of them, once they'd opened up a little we had a good laugh on their level. All bar none were from very troubled families. I dislike hoodies as much as the next person but I don't beleive all of them are a lost cause they just need to be guided.

I believe the result would have been even better if they would not have been as a group but one by one within a healthy group. They would not live from the negative energy of each other but would enjoy energy from a funktioning group spirit. If you have a chance try to get one day a single bad kid and take him and one of his personal along. Would be interesting to see if the motivation and positiv spirit is even higher. I believe that humans try to find a family, if his bad *** friends are not around he will try to fit to you and your mates.

cheers
Abbe