Trying to Save the Big Tree

The big old Mesquite tree in the front of our new house in Tucson was an overgrown hazard. It was full of mistletoe, and held together by straps where it was splitting in half.

We hired an arborist and they took about 1/3 of the tree out. I don’t think they did a very good job, but the tree was a mess to start with. So maybe they did the best they could. It had been repeatedly mangled by previous owners who had cut it away from the roofline without thought to the shape they were creating, resulting in dozens of skinny branches spaying in all directions out of huge bulbous balls of trunk, as if the tree had once been infested by rat-sized parasites. 

The dense growth had partially hidden the issues, which became more apparent as the tree was thinned.

The end result is funny looking, particularly if you stand below it and look upward. It has had a hard life and is not a graceful tree. We are going plant some flowering bushes along the front of the house, because the raised tree leaves a gap. Plus, I’d say it is better as a shade source than a focal point.

The arborist is suggesting coming back out to replace the straps with a steel bolt and plate. The strapping, although cheaper, will eventually disfigure and weaken the tree. However, the arborist’s assessment of the overall health of the tree – which was optimistic when he did our pre-purchase inspection – became more pessimistic after they pruned it. It’s unclear to me whether the tree will thrive even if we do invest in a bolt and plate system for the split. We may end up simply having to take the tree out.

Whatever we decide to do, next time we will hire a different arborist. In addition to changing his mind about the viability of the tree after charging us the big bucks to prune it, they also broke a skylight. They are reimbursing us the cost of the materials to fix it, but I think that is inadequate. John thought it was fine because he wants to do the work himself, because he doesn’t trust them to do it right. But that means John is valuing his time at nothing, lol. There’s always more to do!

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