My husband used a load of oak galls for aging some cast iron. When he was a tech design student many years ago, he had a placement at the black country museum,(Blists hill), and already being a qualified pattern maker, they put him to work in the foundry. They made some copies of Coalbrookdale cast iron door stops and an umbrella stand from some originals they had. he kept back one of each for himself, but they looked very new. The oak galls ground up and vinegar added made a solution that makes the cast iron look aged. Photo of the trunk of the ten year old oak near the pond. The side shoots get pruned off except for the stub that the pond skimmer rests on, and the robin likes sitting on.
Our top Oak this summer before the neighbours put in for planning permission to get it crown lifted. It was a mast year and the branches hung low.
Before crown lifting.
After crown lifting.
This and another Oak are probably 150 to 200 years old and both have TPO on. Neighbours the other side of the fence don't like them. You will note the houses surrounding them are at least 100 years younger than the trees. My thought is that if you don't like leaves and acorns dropping off trees, don't buy a house with a huge oak tree in the back garden.
PS. I don't have a very tidy garden, but the wildlife loves it. There is old hedgerow connecting the two Oaks. There used to be a farm at the top of my garden, until they put the estate in in the early 80's.
This and another Oak are probably 150 to 200 years old and both have TPO on. Neighbours the other side of the fence don't like them. You will note the houses surrounding them are at least 100 years younger than the trees. My thought is that if you don't like leaves and acorns dropping off trees, don't buy a house with a huge oak tree in the back garden.
PS. I don't have a very tidy garden, but the wildlife loves it. There is old hedgerow connecting the two Oaks. There used to be a farm at the top of my garden, until they put the estate in in the early 80's.
I totally agree with you about don't buy a house with trees if you don't like them.
We have a similar situation. I used to love where we live and the trees. The neighbours attitudes have spoiled it for me. They were well forewarned and forearmed, when viewing and asking about the neighborhood. Told what to expect, leaves, acorns, dropped twigs and wood occasionally (even though tree surgeon/arboriculturalist inspection and work is done when needed), very windy storms can't be helped. Gutters would need more attention, cars get really dirty and dented from acorns if not garaged.
Everything I could think of so they would know what they were buying into. They went ahead and have still behaved in a childish and at times appalling manner.
Some clever wit said. You didn't buy a house with a tree in the garden. You bought a tree with a house in the garden.
As you mentioned it has been a great year for acorns. I love the look of your garden.
Edit Apologies @d@dgamble731AgJ2SFx8 . Going a bit off topic is Not helpful to you . But I do rather like your tree. It has ....character.
Not at all Rubytoo. Fidgetbones that is one kick ass oak tree in the garden. For my oak tree im still undecided about cutting that 2nd biggest branch on the left in the 3rd photo down. Or do you definitely think it needs done and to just leave the one trunk. My bungalow is 20 metres away towards that left branch if that makes a difference. I live on the family farm so there are no neighbours to worry about as i wont be selling a site near me.
I also have just potted 40 + acorns and chestnuts whuch i hope to plant in existing hedgerows round the farm in a few years if you have any advice on getting them established as well. As we are a cattle farm and they love to eat trees.
Using the term spiral tree guards brings up lots, and there are various type I think. Some are for smaller things like bunnies but the larger ones it says are for deer and cattle protection.
Good Luck deciding what to do with your oak.
I am not sure hazels as single stems are possible? They often grow other stems alongside. I can't recall seeing any nearby, and all our garden ones are coppiced multi stemmed. I imagine the more you leave it be to grow the less likely it is to multiply. There are a few in woods around us, they still have more than one stem. But the tallest oldest ones have not been touched for years, and still have some younger stems surrounding them.
We have another oak, just as big as the one above. It is about 20m from the house but doesn't bother us. There are three other houses(new) nearer to it than us. There are 7 houses in total running up the side of our garden. I guess you could say we have a big garden. Under the bottom oak gets really dry in summer.The clay cracks, but I grow hellebores and spring flowering bulbs under it.
The old hedgerow between them is mainly hawthorn, but some holly is in it , and also hazel , elder and ivy. An elm that died of dutch elm disease was cut down but sends up shoots from the base. They all get cut together. To establish a tree in the line. you would have to give it some clear space around it, maybe with a separate fence round it.
Big thanks. Im going to make the big cut in my oak tree.
As for my yoing trees i will wait a few years until a decent size and will sort some sort of fencing round them. Possibly Double fencing if a grant comes in since the gov is placing more emphasis on environmental schemes.
Unfortunately it looks like you have cut back a bit too far when removing that branch. Ideally you would have left more of a collar to allow the pruning cut to heal.
Steephill makes a valid point. Don't be afraid to prune into your tree as it matures too. It stands a bigger chance of repairing itself as it matures. Try to aim cuts on larger branches facing downwards as best as possible to avoid collection of water on the new wound.
Posts
We have a similar situation. I used to love where we live and the trees. The neighbours attitudes have spoiled it for me.
They were well forewarned and forearmed, when viewing and asking about the neighborhood. Told what to expect, leaves, acorns, dropped twigs and wood occasionally (even though tree surgeon/arboriculturalist inspection and work is done when needed), very windy storms can't be helped. Gutters would need more attention, cars get really dirty and dented from acorns if not garaged.
Everything I could think of so they would know what they were buying into.
They went ahead and have still behaved in a childish and at times appalling manner.
Some clever wit said.
You didn't buy a house with a tree in the garden.
You bought a tree with a house in the garden.
As you mentioned it has been a great year for acorns.
I love the look of your garden.
Edit Apologies @d@dgamble731AgJ2SFx8 .
Going a bit off topic is Not helpful to you .
But I do rather like your tree. It has ....character.
Fidgetbones that is one kick ass oak tree in the garden. For my oak tree im still undecided about cutting that 2nd biggest branch on the left in the 3rd photo down. Or do you definitely think it needs done and to just leave the one trunk. My bungalow is 20 metres away towards that left branch if that makes a difference. I live on the family farm so there are no neighbours to worry about as i wont be selling a site near me.
I also have just potted 40 + acorns and chestnuts whuch i hope to plant in existing hedgerows round the farm in a few years if you have any advice on getting them established as well. As we are a cattle farm and they love to eat trees.
An example see the link below, there are other sites and suppliers.
https://www.britishhardwood.co.uk/spiral-guards?source=th
Using the term spiral tree guards brings up lots, and there are various type I think.
Some are for smaller things like bunnies but the larger ones it says are for deer and cattle protection.
Good Luck deciding what to do with your oak.
I am not sure hazels as single stems are possible? They often grow other stems alongside. I can't recall seeing any nearby, and all our garden ones are coppiced multi stemmed.
I imagine the more you leave it be to grow the less likely it is to multiply.
There are a few in woods around us, they still have more than one stem. But the tallest oldest ones have not been touched for years, and still have some younger stems surrounding them.
As for my yoing trees i will wait a few years until a decent size and will sort some sort of fencing round them. Possibly Double fencing if a grant comes in since the gov is placing more emphasis on environmental schemes.
Thanks