Cleaning up after the storm

For the past three weeks, ever since The Big Blow (windstorm on night of November 30/December 1), I have received a multitude of offers to haul away the broken tree limbs from the front yard “for a very reasonable price.”  I declined them all, waiting for Jim Walker, his son Todd, and the hard working crew of Western Arborists to come to remove the dead limbs dangling in the avocado and deodar in the front yard. I wanted the crew to chip the debris, cut the limbs into 18-24 inch segments, and leave all of the material on site.

After the men finished working on the deodar, they started on the avocado. This old tree had a lot of rot in it. When I saw the damage after the storm I thought it might have to be removed. We are going to see how it does and as it starts to grow new branches and fill in a bit, I will have some of the very tall limbs shortened. Avocados are not like many other trees, their structure can get quite messy since they are so brittle and large limbs frequently crack. Although the deodar is taller, the avocado is probably more dangerous to work in due to the instability of the limbs.

The limbs that had fallen and those removed from the trees were then cut up and stacked beneath the trees. Branches and other debris were chipped and deposited beneath the avocado.

My work began once the crew from Western Arborist was finished. A pile of mulch sitting on the root system and against the crown of a tree can spell trouble. In fact, I saw a young oak, about fifteen years old, die from just this cause. A pile of woodchips was left near the base of the tree. In a very short period of time the chips started to decompose and the pile got very hot. The roots were probably killed by the heat and the lack of oxygen.

I have spent a few hours each day since last week spreading mulch and figuring out how to use the logs and branches that were too large to chip. Yet another section of the lawn, approximately 400 square feet, is history. More pictures to come!