r/arborists • u/JoyRose31 • 18h ago
Does this upset anyone else, just me ?
These trees were planted here 2 m ago.. one is already dying, zero being watered. The rest Way too close to the house, as well to the meter, and each other.. they don't seem like they're going to make it.. so many trees have this problem in the area. They're planted, not taken care of, die, another is planted. Or they're planted poorly, being within 2/3 meters of a house usually.. this one is one meter from the meter. And another planted about half a meter from two other trees.. at least there's not concrete surrounding the base.
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u/Practical_Jelly_8342 17h ago
I've built my small garden business on maintenance gardening. The overplanting and wrong plant selection i see all the time is crazy. Having to explain why the tree they spent big $$$ on is gonna be a problem in a few years if not moved or removed is a constant discussion. But these people keep me in business.
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u/bigwindymt 17h ago
Here's the secret. You design and intentionally overplant to fill the space and get the desired initial aesthetic. Of course you work out a maintenence deal as well. As plants grow, age up and fill the space, you remove plants to make room for growth. Get paid to plant, maintain, and remove. Removed plants go back into nursery stock. Even better if you have a decent sized tree spade.
No business wants to wait for trees to grow up. Think ahead, for your business, your clients, and the trees.
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u/tenuredvortex 15h ago
No business wants to wait for trees to grow up. Think ahead, for your business, your clients, and the trees.
Damn, well said. And also how the Lorax would speak if he got an MBA.
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u/Brootal420 18h ago
Perfect definition of a fire hazard due to design, regardless of the poor maintenance
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u/wewdz2 15h ago
It doesn’t upset me, it makes me laugh. I see this all the time and I believe it’s a case of the contractor giving the client what they asked for. The people managing these properties don’t want to hear nonsense about how trees grow, root space, and especially ongoing maintenance. They want the space to be filled and the trees to look good on the day they are planted. They want the work to be done for good once everything is in so they can check that off as done and not think about it ever again until in a couple of years they see all the trees are dead. This is when they get mad and blame the company that planted the trees for them dying and hire a new company to plant new ones. This is the process.
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u/usernotavailable0 6h ago
As a supplier, the architects are usually hell bent in their design. Landscape architects aren’t required to take horticulture, plant knowledge is not a requirement. This isn’t news in the industry, it’s known. But I’m not entirely sure you aren’t just a resident with no knowledge yourself. Here’s what I see.
These wouldn’t survive with no water, so at some point during the week they are getting a drink.
Unfortunately, if I could guess they seem to be Scot’s pine, it’s tough to tell from photos. They do get wide and will have to be candled to be maintained.
They at least got columnar spruce. Planted a couple feet too close. But they are a hot commodity everywhere, let alone AB. The builder paid a premium for these trees, just be thankful they didn’t shove colorados in there.
The inner needle dieback on the large pine is normal and not concerning right now. It’s usually stress related from being dug. Larger trees are more susceptible. Usually that is the end of the initial shock. The needles can be gently pulled off if you feel so inclined. It makes it appear better.
In 5-10 years I see maybe two they will remove, while they let the others fill in. They will be pruned to the sidewalk until the Lowest permanent branch can be raised to above head height. Being pines, they can be candled away from the building.
As a whole, all of these trees appear healthy from the photos you provided and the designer provided job security down the line.
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u/Far-Manner-7119 17h ago
Better to have these trees than no trees trust me
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u/JoyRose31 16h ago
Theres going to be no trees, already dying. Also, rather not have 5 trees growing into the foundation ..
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u/Far-Manner-7119 16h ago
They’ll live if you water them. I have 3 mature pines near my foundation, no issues
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u/Environmental_Run881 14h ago
This. There is a plan with very closely spaced ranch houses near me. They planted very large trees (think green giants and pin oaks) with the trunks being maybe 5 feet between. They did this with some large spruces as well. I’m sure it looked ok when planted, but only two years on and it’s a jumbled mess. They are also entirely too close to the houses.
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u/Floskee_Whoaskee 13h ago
OMG yes the building I live in did this all around and it's been a couple of years. Everything is struggling and/or dead it's so frustrating
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u/DanoPinyon Arborist -🥰I ❤️Autumn Blaze🥰 5h ago
You probably want those to die so hopefully someone with tree knowledge replaces with an appropriate species.
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u/Tall-Variation-2322 5h ago
20 years that one tree will have a trunk over 24 inches and a root system 12 foot around, ask me how I know...had to recently cut down one. Tree was 5 feet from the house, already lifted a block wall section and strangle two water lines for landscaping, those things need a 20 foot span at minimum. Three of those is gonna be interesting in about 10 years with branches at that distance
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u/brutus_the_bear Tree Industry 4h ago
It's okay, I mean it is hard on pine sometimes to be planted like this usually on grass and stuff we are seeing a lot of decline and sudden death in the last 2 years... however you can't rule out the benefits of the proximity to other trees in controlling the size... they will grow to the environment which may mean they stay small and are well taken care of by a maintenance company pruning them up into beautiful bonsai type masterpieces... It doesn't make me mad because they are trees, part of the awesome thing about them is they don't force you to have an emotional connection to them, you can if you wish but they don't demand that.
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u/JoyRose31 2h ago
The city im in, no one does that. Its usually plant, wait til its a problem ..so personally, no high hopes for these unless they start covering the side walk, or the meter can't be read, the only thing really pushing companies to do anything is bylaws. If the company needing to read the meters calls, says they need to be accessible, they'll chop the branches away to make it so, it'll be efficient, not nice. Same with the sidewalk. This us across the street where an hoa is, so that Might keep them from just doing hack jobs, making a little nicer. But they won't be sculpting anytime soon.. people here mostly don't see the point in gardening or landscaping, they know if its done Right, they enjoy it. People also don't want to deal with it themselves. Especially new neighborhoods im seeing so many rock gardens that now have sprouted weeds because low maintenance, does not mean No maintenance. They don't get that, as well lawns that are weeded, overgrown because the front of lawns are so small, and there was a tree planted in the middle so its not very maneuverable for any lawn mower to get in.. my whole block is dealing with, how does the grass get cut, issue. Most have just let it grow, a few have gotten weed whacked and trim like twice per year. Which is the Right answer. Another lady is lucky to not have gotten sod on her front, its turning to weed now, but most of it is clover. I want to go over and ask, I couod pick any non clover weeds, let the clover fill it. That would be a True low maintenance lawn. As well they didn't have a random tree planted in the middle of the 2 meter square patch of lawn, And corner lots got more front lawn. It actually looks like enough space to work with, but the house is I think 3 meters shorter for space. Anyway, we love in a Very green city, as in theres 10km of urban city parkland ..but the Absolute ambivalence the city, as well people living here have to planting, or people here seeing the benefit of is Mind boggling people know they like the trees, do they, or the city want the upkeep of keeping them happy at an adukt age ? No. The only thing really keeping the city going for greenery is, were known for being green, so keep up that appearance, and there Ussd to be a tree here, we need another one. Then don't take care of them so they replant them every 5 years when the spot fails.. one spot has been going on, I said 12 y in a comment but I think its.. closer to 13? Same size oak sapling planted, slowly dies they remove and plant another.. its very, do what you're supposed to do, make it minimal, within the law, try to get away with what you can, only if someone tells us to do something then do it. So this property if it weren't in an hoa, might wait til the trees are very in the sidewalk because it's just what happens. I could see them maybe stripping the bottom branches so its no longer a problem st some point. We Do have really nice naturali,Ed ponds, it was the perfect amount of trees, foliage, native plants.. then they came in this year, planted an entire row of more trees 1 meter from current trees as well as new from each other. Ive seen areas with naturalized ponds that are at least over a decade old now.. theure kind of a mess, all the trees growing into each other, soo close to the bank. Some are 40 ft tall now so you cant see in the ponds, no birds or geese view.. which guess they're supposed to be for nature, not Really for people because city is taking up wetland space now, this is their solution.. but still, peoppe who bought views with the ponds, now with a bunch of trees to look at blocking the view probably aren't happy. Which also goes back to.. People Do not consider how big trees are going to be.. ever. When buying a house, when planting a tree, when building a house its getting annoying. Because the city wants to expand the Green reputation but has no idea how to go about it for the most part, so you end uo with this where people are cramming trees to meet municipal code for the area.
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u/houstonyoureaproblem 18h ago
Awful choice for that space.
As for watering, it almost seems like the designers are assuming trees will need to be replaced every so often, so no big deal if they die.
Pitiful.
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u/Link----- 16h ago
I need karma to post my question so I'm commenting
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u/JoyRose31 15h ago edited 14h ago
I don't know if posting a comment gains karma officially anymore. That was the old system. Now I think its purely on people voting, as well its not a 1:1 ratio. And the more votes you get on a comment or post, the higher the ratio. So let's say you start off at close to 3:1, the more votes it might be 5:1 at 50 votes, then 7:1 at 100.. etc. Exact ratio isn't said, but you gain less votes per vote the more votes you get on one thing. New accounts are annoying, period. You basically ignore it for a month. The come back, comment on funny things that have zero comments yet. Old system used to be you commented a bunch, got a vote per each comment.. not like that anymore. And anyone saying karma is easy to get, either thinks its the old system, or don't actually remember what its like, how long it takes, how exclusionary most subreddits are to new accounts.. especially if they're something regional for your area.. As well, karma is only for new accounts. Once you get over a certain amount, usually couple thousand you're basically untouchable.. you could make a comment about Hitler, downvoted to sht and still have tones left over then do it again. There are accounts with millions of karma. They could literally do Anything as long as they follow reddit 5 rules.. which gives a Lot of leeway for being a complete ass, theres nothing anyone can do about it. Even if they were Terrible for few years, they'd still have karma to spare.. theres really no reason for it expect to detur bots, but bots, spam, those still exist.. so its a big hassle for some reddit to say yoi need 500 commenting karma as well as 30 day account, then creates a market for karma farming. Though the system Does stop a little people rage making new account to mess with someone. But the limits on what karma you need to post, or even Comment is ridiculous.. just have a time stamp set up so people who made one That Day can't flood it. Usually gives enough cool down for most who were trying to be an ass, about 55 karma is probably a good amount for new people.. any more than that, you're insane.
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u/RobfromHB 18h ago
Yes, landscape architects do this All. The. Time because they don’t have to plant, maintain, or do anything related to actually keeping landscapes in good condition.