The previous owner of our property, Mr. Forrest, spent years building a log cabin all by himself. To make this possible, he rigged a system using large cables from two very large and old trees. Unfortunately, Mr. Forrest passed away before he could remove any of the cables from the trees. When we moved in, we found that the trees had started to consume the rigging which was now strangling our mascot in the woods. What would we do?

Should we remove the rigging from the tree?

I was worried about getting the cables down as I didn’t want the thick and taunt cable to snap back at us. But more importantly it is often best to just let the trees consume (wall off) the objects so you don’t create a large wound. In this case, with the cable going at least 100 feet from tree to tree, it needed to come down.

How would we remove the object from our tree?

Jay should not go up too high on ladders as it is a safety hazard when you have epilepsy. I was also worried about the tension and wasn’t exactly sure how to address the situation. Luckily, when our local arborist Kreg came over to cut down some large hazard trees, he helped us get it down. (Yes, I am an arborist, but I am TERRIFIED of cutting down large trees! I became an arborist because I LOVE to prune, analyze and risk assess–but taking down big trees is just too risky for me as I need to be around for my kids. Unfortunately, accidents do happen in arboriculture.)

An example of CODIT for trees

While the come-a-long – a winch (seen below) is being consumed, it is still a great example of CODIT (Compartmentalization Of Decay In Trees) even though the decay in this case is replaced by an object. Trees are amazing and they can wall off disease and decay to stop the spread from further damaging the tree.

Thanks to Kreg, we won’t need to worry about the trees being slowly strangled.

Kreg was able to get the major parts of rigging off of the tree, without causing any more damage to it! We did leave part of the metal in the tree, as it would do more damage to remove, the tree will also eventually wall it off. I will have to write it in my log though, that way we remember if the tree ever needs to come down or in 50 years when we have long forgotten.(Never fun when a chain saw meets metal.)

Codit

This term coined by Dr. Alex Shigo, is actually quite complicated, and took me more than a few minutes to comprehend, so instead of me trying to explain it all in my own words and possibly butchering it, here is a well written PDF with tons of drawings by the biologist himself.

Becky

Becky is a Clinical Hypnotherapist, Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Landscape & Production Horticulturist, Arborist and budding Herbalist, who recognizes and specializes in the link between healthy soil, the gut and the brain. She also loves being the mom to her two wild and crazy kids Brooke & Connor whom keep her and her ever loving, creative husband Jay on their toes.