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| ken_a. with the magic ladder, ever tried giant bonsai? You might need more than your clipper and hand saw, though.
Geez. American sycamore always stands out in the landscape with its beautiful white bark. Admittedly, wrong tree in the wrong place. Asplundh has added to that eye-grabbing feature with this one. Actually wrenches your eye to it (as well as one's gut). Sad thing is that it lived and has been persisting like this for several years now. Personal opinion is that they should have cut the poor thing down. They pretty much butchered the pin oak to the left as well. There oughta be a euthanasia law for trees...they shouldn't have to suffer. hortster |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Fri, Mar 30, 12 at 17:57
| i have been cleaning up my hard drive. and came across my old version of this type of nightmare .. frankly .. as the guy who lives down the power line .. i think the darn company ought to properly clear their easement .. to the ground.. and apply roundup .. i dont care what the idiot who lives at that house.. who INTENTIONALLY PLANTED THESE TREES in the EASEMENT.. cares or wants ... they.. the people who planted them .... were a menace and blot on society as a whole .. and i hope they are rotting in hell ... and for nay but a shiny penny.. i will tell you how i really feel ... idiots.. thanks for the levity ... lol ken ps: what??? .. they didnt think the tree would go up into the powers lines.. crimminey ... |
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| Big time improper planting, yes. Poor decision to save the tree, yes. Idiots, yes. Wish for arboristic education of the public, yes. Wish for the one cut prune here, yes. Sincere sadness for the tree, yes. hortster |
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- Posted by toronado3800 Z6 St. Louis (My Page) on Fri, Mar 30, 12 at 20:07
| And I thought our local power company was the weirdest. Ameren Electric and st louis residents are particularly fond of "U" shaped tress with power lines sewn thew the centers. Nice picture. I wonder if they can train the sycamore to grow staight across the street |
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| Ken, Which came first, the power line or the tree? I had a tree in the middle of my farm that was kind of my version of a niwaki specimen. I had spent some time on it and was very satisfied with its form. It was near an overhead line. I came to the farm one day to find the top of my beautiful tree gone. I was upset, but realized there was nothing I could do. I came back a week later and found that the &*($# power company had completely removed the power line from my property.... |
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| brandon, I guess the power line must have had bad feng shui. Kind of like the company... hortster |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sat, Mar 31, 12 at 8:52
| Which came first, the power line or the tree? DOESNT MATTER.. IF TREE FIRST.. THEY SHOULD HAVE REMOVED THEM AND THEN INSTALLED THE LINES ... ITS THEIR EASEMENT ... Do you think whoever planted the tree still lives in that house? I SUPPOSE.. HOW OLD DO YOU THINK THE ONE ON THE LEFT IS.. 40 TO 60 YEARS???? .. are you suggesting that because the old fart is still alive.. he somehow 'owns' the easement???? somehow his nimrod decision should be given higher status ... ===>>> regardless.. i was just putting on my devils advocate hat.. prior to everyone whining about the mean old power company .... or complaining about the tree trimmer.. [you know.. that guy is the one who is suffering.. do you think he really wanted to do it this way .. that he knew no better???? .. ] peeps would complain if power repeatedly fails.. and peeps will complain about horrible pruning ... so why not walk your lines every year.. and simply remove EVERYTHING planted in YOUR EASEMENT ... that has the potential to grow that tall ... take the PR hit upfront.. and be done with it ... ken |
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| So Ken, are you saying that whoever planted them is an idiot because he should somehow have known that the power lines would be installed later (if that is the case)? I know you were just kidding with your response, but the initial placement may not have been in error (at the time). |
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- Posted by viburnumvalley z5/6 KY (My Page) on Sat, Mar 31, 12 at 23:06
| I'd say that anyone who believes that overhead power lines should always have the rights to destroy trees any time any where in perpetuity - is the one who ought to contemplate their navel. Powerlines can go underground. They have in many parts of the world, and they should continue to. I suggest those who believe otherwise take a visit to Madison WI where they did this back in the 1970s, and no longer have these disgusting situations to deal with. Easements are sold or given to utilities. They are not rights bestowed from on high. Whether it is an individual or a local municipality, there is a negotiation opportunity. I appreciate having reliable electrical service as much as the next Tree Forum member - but not at the price of eliminating canopy trees. No way - no how - never. |
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- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Sat, Mar 31, 12 at 23:11
| Besides.....who gave Ken one shiny penny? ;^) +oM |
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| I had to listen to the crew carp about a one hundred and ten year old spruce tree someone "planted under a power line", and reminded them that the power lines probably didn't go up until the rural electrification act in the 30s or 40s and they should have removed that already large tree when the lines went up. They refused to fell the offending tree. Cut it in half they did, and still left enough branching to hit the lines and enough stump to take the lines down if the tree went over when it died, which it was surely going to do. It wouldn't have cost them much more in wages to take it all the way to the ground and they had my permission. We paid to take the hideous dead man walking eyesore down because I figured it amounted to a safety hazard. I still feel like some passive aggression was in play. |
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| I always love power line pruning vs tree stories. My dad loves to complain about our "3rd world" overland power utilities... also something about the radio interference of the poorly maintained transformers. But that's another story. I just wanted to say that Wisconsin is my new favorite state and I want to visit Madison in particular. Here's my take on the picture. New homeowner plants the trees on his lot for some shade. They grow. Eventually urban sprawl reaches his neck of the woods, the road is widened to two lanes of traffic, a sidewalk is put in, power lines go up against his oak and a sycamore is planted by the city when the sidewalk goes in. A few years ago the power lines are upgraded, new poles go in and the trees are pruned to their current state. I don't know if anyone is to blame. Would have been a good time to take the lines underground... |
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- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Sun, Apr 1, 12 at 12:17
| Like Kato alludes to, there's a variety of completely reasonable ways this kind of thing can happen. Everybody is not stupid. Stuff just happens sometimes. I'd like to point out though that underground utilities come with their own set of problems. Root systems are damaged everyday in their installation. What's really at play here is our insatiable demand for things. Things like electricity, phone connections, and internet. I'm using two out of three at this very moment. +oM |
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- Posted by viburnumvalley z5/6 KY (My Page) on Sun, Apr 1, 12 at 19:19
| I'm using all three, but no one had to remove a tree on my property for this to be so. The line goes underground from the transformer to my house. +oM has probably valued a tree or two in his time. A number can be placed next to every single one out there, and utility companies employ arborists that know just how to do this. Well, root systems are damaged when the utility doesn't place any value on the living resource that a tree is, and no one forces the issue. If they did, they'd more likely take advantage of the technology available that avoids most of this unnecessary damage: directional boring or tunneling. A utility installation would never trench through a house, a driveway, a pool, or any other noticeable private property item and expect to get away without paying for it - despite the fact that it could be built right back and it would instantly be the same. But for some reason, we as ratepayers and voting citizens allow the living resource - that requires the irreplaceable fourth dimension of time - to be the most mistreated and least valued element of our everyday world. Hard to believe, but it goes on and on every day, everywhere. |
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- Posted by wisconsitom 4/5 WI (My Page) on Sun, Apr 1, 12 at 22:19
| No argument from me, VV! +oM |
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| This has turned into an interesting subject... I have a undefined easement that dates back to 1922 that goes across my back yard for electrical power. On the other side of the street, there is a small alley that the power lines run through, but once they cross the street to my yard, they go through branches of an old and pretty Norway Maple, and through a couple of Hemlocks on my neighbor's property before passing over his barn. Then the lines go through another couple neighbor's trees. I've been wanting to check with my lawyer to see what he thinks can be done to either define the easement's limits in writing, safeguard the trees, or see about running the lines underground. Should be interesting, I'll set off an email to him tomorrow. vince |
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| viburnumvalley, I agree and I am with you about 99% especially for this statement: "Well, root systems are damaged when the utility doesn't place any value on the living resource that a tree is, and no one forces the issue. If they did, they'd more likely take advantage of the technology available that avoids most of this unnecessary damage: directional boring or tunneling." That isn't all the time. The dudes that came to my house to replace a cable line COULD CARE about anything that has to do with ANYTHING but getting the new cable directionally bored. They worry about "point A to point B" and not screwing up the visible areas in turf with that HUGE boring machine, let alone tree roots. Anything underground is out of sight and out of mind. I told them to go as deep as they could and there were surface cracks in my perennial garden where they got too shallow! TG that it was by the one Knockout rose there that is unkillable. If they would go 3' to 4' deep a lot less damage would be done to root systems. Point is, utilities just want to cover their behinds, make damage invisible, any way possible. Sorry, ken_a., don't side with them. hortster |
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| Twice in the last 4 years my MIL has had to call the cable company to come out and repair the underground lines that run through my yard and over to hers. You would think it would just be easier to put it in a little deeper.... It's either that or rely on me to remember where exactly it runs, which so far is 0 of 2. |
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