Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Eight, twenty thirteen ten Wi b A and asked the
experts Brought you by hams Arborcare online Hamsarborcare dot com.
That's h A m Msarborcare dot com. Great website resource
to learn about hams Arborcare. Their telephone number eight six
six five nine six five three nine six. That's eight
six six five nine six five three nine six. And
(00:31):
joining us this morning from hams Arborcare the one and
only mister Kevin ham Mester arborist at cams at hams Arborcare. Kevin,
how you doing this morning?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Doing good? It's a ball me day, John.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yes, it is, and it's just gonna get colder and colder.
What did I see? I saw Saturday or Friday a
high of seven below and that's our that's our high
that's not adjusted in any way, shape or form. That
is not windschill. That is the projected high of seven
below Saturday one below, So it's going to be cold.
And I shared with you I thought I saw somebody
(01:04):
post something about exploding trees. The apparently extreme temperatures causes
frost and sapped split wood and all these other things,
and I thought, who would know something about this? Subject,
and your name came to mind right away. What the
heck are exploding trees? Is this a real phenomenon? Is
(01:26):
this something that we could potentially see here? Have you
seen it, Kevin Well?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I haven't witnessed that personally. It's usually in the farther north,
and I don't know that an explosion is really but
you know, it's the expansion and contraction of freezing things.
So if there's a lot of you know, internal moisture,
(01:53):
and it may vary from species to species. You know,
some some trees are drier than others. But if there's
a lot of water in the core of a tree
and the temperature drops severely and that all expands, then
you can get that that cracking and sometimes that that
internal cracking that we see when we cut down a tree.
(02:14):
You know, it may have been various freezing and signs
that have caused those cracks over time.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Such I was gonna ask you too, something that is
I do I obviously you've encountered this, which is and
not this time of year probably not all that common.
But I know I think of like spring and summer
as lightning. What is a tree? What does do lightning
strikes automatically kill a tree or can they survive that?
And what the heck do they look like after they've
after they've been hit by lightning?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Well, and that varies widely as well. And explosion is
a justified explanation of some of those occurrences. Literally, you
could be killed if you are close to some of
those explosions. And that's the expansion of the moisture to gas,
(03:03):
you know, rapidly. So if there's enough, if it's a
large enough strike and it goes deep into the heart
of the wood and there's a lot of moisture there
and all that water goes to steam, then that's it's
just like a boiler explosion, you know, it's just it
fragments an entire I've seen, you know, a thirty inch
(03:23):
diameter tree just completely explode and the whole tree fails. Wow.
In the wintertime like this, what you'll notice if you
have a tree with a perennial crack, you know, you
just you have this crack that goes down the tree.
Maybe it has a spiraling grain and it's kind of obvious.
Go look at it on Saturday, and it's going to
(03:45):
be open, you know likely, And that's kind of that
phenomenon of exploding trees, that that crack is going to
open up because everything's expanding inside, and then in the
summer that that's might be be closed. And that's what
makes it a perennial crack where it keeps cracking, like
(04:06):
for years on the tree. There's always this crack on
the outside of the tree. Why is that, Well it
it maybe even grows enough in a year to to
you know, graft and close that crack, But in the winter,
if it gets cold enough, it'll crack it open. And
then and then it creates this perennial existence of this
(04:28):
crack that goes usually on radial radio lines radial vessels
that carry carry nutrients laterally through the tree. Uh, those
those radial lines will will be you know, the the
avenue for a crack. And and it's the winter, you know,
freezing and throwing that that causes those cracks to be perpetual,
(04:53):
you know, year to year.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
And Kevin, we talk about you know that how how
phenomenal it is, you know, getting out and having trees
inspected this time of year. It gives you a good
look at the tree. Is that one of the things
you're when I know, the answer to this is that
one of the things you're looking for when you're doing
a trans looking for some of those some of those
cracks and some other things that that in the summer
months may may not be quite as apparent, is that
(05:16):
one of those areas that you're really focusing in on
doing winter work and inspecting trees this time of year.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, that would be an observation, kind of an opportunity
to see, you know, how extensive is that crack? You know,
because if now it's open a half inch, you can
kind of see, Okay, well that probably goes all the
way to the core of the tree or whatever, and
so you can you know, maybe gauge or maybe you
(05:43):
can actually see, oh well it's two inches in. It's hollow,
you know, And that would that that could give information
that you wouldn't normally see in the summer when that
might be completely shut and trying to graft.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Again, it's funny you mentioned that the trees fully hollow.
It could be hollowing there. I've had a couple back
in my woods. I'll notice oftentimes it's smaller trees that
that'll fall over and it'll look like the insides were
like gone like, there's is that what's going on with that?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, there was, there was maybe an injury or or
something in its past. And yeah, and it was at
the year. You know, sometimes an entire cambial you know,
layer will be compartmentalized and so you'll you'll see this
perfect cylinder. You know, sometimes you cut down a tree
(06:35):
and there's this perfect round cylinder inside. Well, at that year,
there was some major injury. Maybe if you go up
higher on the trunk, there's a big branch that broke off,
and the tree compartmentalized that entire From that year on,
it started compartmentalizing that and it moved all the nutrients
out of that center area into you know, the outer
(06:59):
layers and the new layer that it was growing. And
then several years later there's all the new wood that's grown.
But it basically said, I'm going to resign this inner
core and it and it makes a very strong barrier
and you know that's what creates you know, cavities for
for wildlife and andy, there's a little symbiosis going on
(07:22):
in the forest. Uh, it's a it's an amazing thing.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
That is pretty it's pretty amazing to hear. Is we'd like,
for example, some of those cracks and some of those
other things. Are are there ways to to kind of
aid the tree and healing and you mentioned kind of
compartmentalizing and and and that type of thing. Are there
ways are there techniques you can use to try and
reinforce or or preserve for example, if it's got a
frost crack or a damage from from some other type
(07:46):
of issue. I mean, are there things that you're able
to do to to try at least give it a
give it a more fighting chance to survive?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
And on Cabling supports are the primary thing when you've
got maybe perennial cracks and off Sometimes there are positions
at unions, you know, and so you've got a weak
union that's never really grafting. And but there's nothing we
can really do, you know, at the location of the crack,
(08:15):
you know, I mean bolting, you could bolt through, you know.
I'm not a real fan. I don't bolt where I
don't really have to, sure, but yeah, so, so cabling
is the primary mitigation in trees that have cracks that
affect the integrity the inner cavity. It used to be
(08:36):
that you you'd grind out all there or you know,
you raise that nice strong barrier that the tree made
and spread decay further and then fill it with cements
so that some unwary arborous down the road can run
his chainsaw into that pillar of cement inside the tree.
(08:56):
You can see the disdain in my voice because when
you run into that concrete, you're just like ah. And
it's always on a thirty inch bar, you know, thirty
six inch bar and you just destroyed a you know,
an expensive chain. And yeah, no, we do not grind
(09:17):
out the cavities and spread the decay. That's what that does.
And oftentimes these pillars of cement that were put in
the trees years ago, we're not running into too many.
I mean, we've gotten pasted a lot of that. But
it would be a loose pillar of cement in the tree.
Why was it loose because they broke the barrier of
(09:40):
the tree and there the decay continued after the cement
was in there, and so the cement then became non
supportive because it wasn't connected to any wood, because the
decay spread further, and so it just it wasn't a solution,
you know, it was an idea.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Live and learning before we wrap up this week speaking
of things that can spread. Good to reminder about oak
and you know, we think about winter work and other things.
I don't know about this week, but.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Today it would be a good pruning day. We're gonna
do some pruning. I'm gonna do some crab apple pruning
right now, so apples, you know, and fruit trees are
good to prune in the dormancy. So we're we're doing
some crab apple pruning today excellent, And to tomorrow we're
we'll probably do some some more removals and stuff. Removals
(10:42):
are better on a nice cold day. Yeah, Friday, we're
gonna I worked Monday. Monday was my birthday. Oh and
I celebrated by going out there in minus twenty four
degree windshield and I made a video. It's up. It's
the most recent long video on gaming of trees. We
worked on Monday up in that extreme cold. But Friday's
(11:05):
gonna talk us out of it.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
We're gonna have to check that out. As speaking of
the YouTube channel, Game of Trees, that's a Game of Trees.
You can find Kevin there. Watch his YouTube channel. Also
follow his Instagram channel. Speaking of colder temperatures, don't forget
about the portage and main boilers. Keep your shop, keep
the keep the house, keep everything nice, warm and toasty
with a fantastic boiler. You can learn about those at
gameoftrees dot com as well. The main website for hams
(11:29):
Arborcare it is Hamsarborcare dot com. That's h a m
Msarborcare dot com. Kevin, It's always great chatting with you,
my friend. You enjoy this fantastic Dan. We'll do it
all again real soon.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Thank you, Sean.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Take Care News comes to Way next year on thirteen ten.
Doble you, ib I
Eight, twenty thirteen ten Wi b A and asked the
experts Brought you by hams Arborcare online Hamsarborcare dot com.
That's h A m Msarborcare dot com. Great website resource
to learn about hams Arborcare. Their telephone number eight six
six five nine six five three nine six. That's eight
six six five nine six five three nine six. And
(00:31):
joining us this morning from hams Arborcare the one and
only mister Kevin ham Mester arborist at cams at hams Arborcare. Kevin,
how you doing this morning?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Doing good? It's a ball me day, John.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Yes, it is, and it's just gonna get colder and colder.
What did I see? I saw Saturday or Friday a
high of seven below and that's our that's our high
that's not adjusted in any way, shape or form. That
is not windschill. That is the projected high of seven
below Saturday one below, So it's going to be cold.
And I shared with you I thought I saw somebody
(01:04):
post something about exploding trees. The apparently extreme temperatures causes
frost and sapped split wood and all these other things,
and I thought, who would know something about this? Subject,
and your name came to mind right away. What the
heck are exploding trees? Is this a real phenomenon? Is
(01:26):
this something that we could potentially see here? Have you
seen it, Kevin Well?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I haven't witnessed that personally. It's usually in the farther north,
and I don't know that an explosion is really but
you know, it's the expansion and contraction of freezing things.
So if there's a lot of you know, internal moisture,
(01:53):
and it may vary from species to species. You know,
some some trees are drier than others. But if there's
a lot of water in the core of a tree
and the temperature drops severely and that all expands, then
you can get that that cracking and sometimes that that
internal cracking that we see when we cut down a tree.
(02:14):
You know, it may have been various freezing and signs
that have caused those cracks over time.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Such I was gonna ask you too, something that is
I do I obviously you've encountered this, which is and
not this time of year probably not all that common.
But I know I think of like spring and summer
as lightning. What is a tree? What does do lightning
strikes automatically kill a tree or can they survive that?
And what the heck do they look like after they've
after they've been hit by lightning?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Well, and that varies widely as well. And explosion is
a justified explanation of some of those occurrences. Literally, you
could be killed if you are close to some of
those explosions. And that's the expansion of the moisture to gas,
(03:03):
you know, rapidly. So if there's enough, if it's a
large enough strike and it goes deep into the heart
of the wood and there's a lot of moisture there
and all that water goes to steam, then that's it's
just like a boiler explosion, you know, it's just it
fragments an entire I've seen, you know, a thirty inch
(03:23):
diameter tree just completely explode and the whole tree fails. Wow.
In the wintertime like this, what you'll notice if you
have a tree with a perennial crack, you know, you
just you have this crack that goes down the tree.
Maybe it has a spiraling grain and it's kind of obvious.
Go look at it on Saturday, and it's going to
(03:45):
be open, you know likely, And that's kind of that
phenomenon of exploding trees, that that crack is going to
open up because everything's expanding inside, and then in the
summer that that's might be be closed. And that's what
makes it a perennial crack where it keeps cracking, like
(04:06):
for years on the tree. There's always this crack on
the outside of the tree. Why is that, Well it
it maybe even grows enough in a year to to
you know, graft and close that crack, But in the winter,
if it gets cold enough, it'll crack it open. And
then and then it creates this perennial existence of this
(04:28):
crack that goes usually on radial radio lines radial vessels
that carry carry nutrients laterally through the tree. Uh, those
those radial lines will will be you know, the the
avenue for a crack. And and it's the winter, you know,
freezing and throwing that that causes those cracks to be perpetual,
(04:53):
you know, year to year.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
And Kevin, we talk about you know that how how
phenomenal it is, you know, getting out and having trees
inspected this time of year. It gives you a good
look at the tree. Is that one of the things
you're when I know, the answer to this is that
one of the things you're looking for when you're doing
a trans looking for some of those some of those
cracks and some other things that that in the summer
months may may not be quite as apparent, is that
(05:16):
one of those areas that you're really focusing in on
doing winter work and inspecting trees this time of year.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, that would be an observation, kind of an opportunity
to see, you know, how extensive is that crack? You know,
because if now it's open a half inch, you can
kind of see, Okay, well that probably goes all the
way to the core of the tree or whatever, and
so you can you know, maybe gauge or maybe you
(05:43):
can actually see, oh well it's two inches in. It's hollow,
you know, And that would that that could give information
that you wouldn't normally see in the summer when that
might be completely shut and trying to graft.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Again, it's funny you mentioned that the trees fully hollow.
It could be hollowing there. I've had a couple back
in my woods. I'll notice oftentimes it's smaller trees that
that'll fall over and it'll look like the insides were
like gone like, there's is that what's going on with that?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Yeah, there was, there was maybe an injury or or
something in its past. And yeah, and it was at
the year. You know, sometimes an entire cambial you know,
layer will be compartmentalized and so you'll you'll see this
perfect cylinder. You know, sometimes you cut down a tree
(06:35):
and there's this perfect round cylinder inside. Well, at that year,
there was some major injury. Maybe if you go up
higher on the trunk, there's a big branch that broke off,
and the tree compartmentalized that entire From that year on,
it started compartmentalizing that and it moved all the nutrients
out of that center area into you know, the outer
(06:59):
layers and the new layer that it was growing. And
then several years later there's all the new wood that's grown.
But it basically said, I'm going to resign this inner
core and it and it makes a very strong barrier
and you know that's what creates you know, cavities for
for wildlife and andy, there's a little symbiosis going on
(07:22):
in the forest. Uh, it's a it's an amazing thing.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
That is pretty it's pretty amazing to hear. Is we'd like,
for example, some of those cracks and some of those
other things. Are are there ways to to kind of
aid the tree and healing and you mentioned kind of
compartmentalizing and and and that type of thing. Are there
ways are there techniques you can use to try and
reinforce or or preserve for example, if it's got a
frost crack or a damage from from some other type
(07:46):
of issue. I mean, are there things that you're able
to do to to try at least give it a
give it a more fighting chance to survive?
Speaker 2 (07:52):
And on Cabling supports are the primary thing when you've
got maybe perennial cracks and off Sometimes there are positions
at unions, you know, and so you've got a weak
union that's never really grafting. And but there's nothing we
can really do, you know, at the location of the crack,
(08:15):
you know, I mean bolting, you could bolt through, you know.
I'm not a real fan. I don't bolt where I
don't really have to, sure, but yeah, so, so cabling
is the primary mitigation in trees that have cracks that
affect the integrity the inner cavity. It used to be
(08:36):
that you you'd grind out all there or you know,
you raise that nice strong barrier that the tree made
and spread decay further and then fill it with cements
so that some unwary arborous down the road can run
his chainsaw into that pillar of cement inside the tree.
(08:56):
You can see the disdain in my voice because when
you run into that concrete, you're just like ah. And
it's always on a thirty inch bar, you know, thirty
six inch bar and you just destroyed a you know,
an expensive chain. And yeah, no, we do not grind
(09:17):
out the cavities and spread the decay. That's what that does.
And oftentimes these pillars of cement that were put in
the trees years ago, we're not running into too many.
I mean, we've gotten pasted a lot of that. But
it would be a loose pillar of cement in the tree.
Why was it loose because they broke the barrier of
(09:40):
the tree and there the decay continued after the cement
was in there, and so the cement then became non
supportive because it wasn't connected to any wood, because the
decay spread further, and so it just it wasn't a solution,
you know, it was an idea.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Live and learning before we wrap up this week speaking
of things that can spread. Good to reminder about oak
and you know, we think about winter work and other things.
I don't know about this week, but.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Today it would be a good pruning day. We're gonna
do some pruning. I'm gonna do some crab apple pruning
right now, so apples, you know, and fruit trees are
good to prune in the dormancy. So we're we're doing
some crab apple pruning today excellent, And to tomorrow we're
we'll probably do some some more removals and stuff. Removals
(10:42):
are better on a nice cold day. Yeah, Friday, we're
gonna I worked Monday. Monday was my birthday. Oh and
I celebrated by going out there in minus twenty four
degree windshield and I made a video. It's up. It's
the most recent long video on gaming of trees. We
worked on Monday up in that extreme cold. But Friday's
(11:05):
gonna talk us out of it.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
We're gonna have to check that out. As speaking of
the YouTube channel, Game of Trees, that's a Game of Trees.
You can find Kevin there. Watch his YouTube channel. Also
follow his Instagram channel. Speaking of colder temperatures, don't forget
about the portage and main boilers. Keep your shop, keep
the keep the house, keep everything nice, warm and toasty
with a fantastic boiler. You can learn about those at
gameoftrees dot com as well. The main website for hams
(11:29):
Arborcare it is Hamsarborcare dot com. That's h a m
Msarborcare dot com. Kevin, It's always great chatting with you,
my friend. You enjoy this fantastic Dan. We'll do it
all again real soon.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Thank you, Sean.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Take Care News comes to Way next year on thirteen ten.
Doble you, ib I
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