What did you do to your residence today?

[JimC]

I went to the basement yesterday morning and spotted some water. Our place was built this past year and we bought/moved-in in June 2022. So we have a warranty from the builder. Contacted them and they had someone out at noon today.

Pulled the insulation away from the basement wall where the floor was showing dampness still. Nice crack in the foundation and the leak was pretty evident. So waiting for the repair crew to come out.

I'm glad that we did not have the basement finished yet. Held off because of the cost of materials right now. Although we started going over our plan and hope to get it done this summer anyway.

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[FreePenguin]

Thanks for the info. I had been looking for a small corner shelf primarily to get my wheel cribs off the floor in case of any water intrusion around the end of the overhead door, not to mention gain a little more storage for other items. Sturdy little unit.

Looks good! I am happy with my little shelf, extremely sturdy given the price. not mad at all about it. other than I redid the shelving height a ton of times before I realize how I wanted it for each item

 

[FreePenguin]

While I’m in the garage improvement mood ordered me a little Adams detailing cart. Same concept, I have cleaners I never use because tucked up in cabinet. Now I will always see and use them not keep buying new stuff

 

[key01]

I went to the basement yesterday morning and spotted some water. Our place was built this past year and we bought/moved-in in June 2022. So we have a warranty from the builder. Contacted them and they had someone out at noon today.

Pulled the insulation away from the basement wall where the floor was showing dampness still. Nice crack in the foundation and the leak was pretty evident. So waiting for the repair crew to come out.

I'm glad that we did not have the basement finished yet. Held off because of the cost of materials right now. Although we started going over our plan and hope to get it done this summer anyway.

Well, that stinks. You may want to slow your roll on finishing that basement. Once you get one foundation crack that is big enough to leak, you have the potential for more to show up. Keep an eye on things for awhile. I’m an architect and just throwing that one out there.

 

[FreePenguin]

Well, that stinks. You may want to slow your roll on finishing that basement. Once you get one foundation crack that is big enough to leak, you have the potential for more to show up. Keep an eye on things for awhile. I’m an architect and just throwing that one out there.

Agree 1000x. My house settled a bit, garage settled enough to crack the foundation on the corner (sinking) kind of deal. The previous owners spent 20k or so on these giant helicoil piers that go into ground, like 3-4 of them. They also installed French drains on my house, and neighbors houses because the run off water was from the neighbor next-door who is like 5 feet higher than mine and runs all the water into my house. Also sump pump, and drain tiles etc

Pretty hefty job but it was done and no real issues. but if it was me, and I had even a remote sign of an issue, hold off entirely til you diagnose, fix, and then let sit for awhile to make sure no future issues, otherwise could be hefty money to repair it all over again .


I do have 1 issue, I notice if there was a TON of rain, and then freezes in middle of winter, one year the foundation where was repaired, and the garage, it moved like an inch, I called people to come check it out, they said dont worry about it. we had so much rain, and even though the house foundation is tiered with pier's that it will freeze different rates and amounts of water moving.

anyway, he was right 2 weeks later, all the concrete thawed out, and the concrete in corner was back to normal. I was worried though, but now I will never repair the garage in that section because that seems to be a permanent stress crack point and probably would cause the new concrete to crack too. not a big deal, but sucks. lol

 

[DFB5.0]

While I’m in the garage improvement mood ordered me a little Adams detailing cart. Same concept, I have cleaners I never use because tucked up in cabinet. Now I will always see and use them not keep buying new stuff

That looks great, well done mate.

 

[GT 550]

Shout out to the 'greenthumbs'. Recently lost two 4yo/5" trunk diam Acer maples, wind snapped the trunks like matchsticks . There was a particularly strong gust and it appears the huge rainfall and mild summer meant the tress grew a lot of foliage very quickly which made branches heavy before the wood could mature etc. Had I known this could happen I'd have thinned the tree.

Have been told by one hortic to cut them off below the damage as they'll go gangbusters due to the existing root system, and another said not to bother as while it's good in theory finding a proper leader will be difficult and the canopy will look odd.

Would like to save them obviously but don't want to spend another 4 years hoping they'll be ok when they never will be and there's always the susceptibility of maples to wind to consider. Also if they grow fast due to the existing root system it seems the same thing could happen all over again.

Thoughts?

 

[DFB5.0]

Shout out to the 'greenthumbs'. Recently lost two 4yo/5" trunk diam Acer maples, wind snapped the trunks like matchsticks . There was a particularly strong gust and it appears the huge rainfall and mild summer meant the tress grew a lot of foliage very quickly which made branches heavy before the wood could mature etc. Had I known this could happen I'd have thinned the tree.

Have been told by one hortic to cut them off below the damage as they'll go gangbusters due to the existing root system, and another said not to bother as while it's good in theory finding a proper leader will be difficult and the canopy will look odd.

Would like to save them obviously but don't want to spend another 4 years hoping they'll be ok when they never will be and there's always the susceptibility of maples to wind to consider. Also if they grow fast due to the existing root system it seems the same thing could happen all over again.

Thoughts?

Firstly, what type of maples are we talking about.
Japanese, Canadian, Negundo?

Japanese Maples are typically quite multi-branched and generally never have an obvious leader. Cutting back and allowing to regrow would we fine for these.

Canadian/Lipstick/Negundo Maples have a very structured branch layout, which often have the central leader cut about two meters to allow the canopy to develop. If damage occurs below that point, the tree may end up looking disfigured from then on. Cutting the damage off clean and allowing to regrow should not be a problem, you will know at the end of next spring to early summer if that shape is going to be desirable. The growth generated will be fast, and you may need to tip prune the new growth at some stage to encourage additional branching.

I have had very strong wind snap off a very well cared for and trimmed Autumn Blaze Maple. I think in this case you have been unlucky, and can happen to any tree variety or level of pruning care.

 

[GT 550]

Lol oops sorry I thought Acer described the type. One was an October Glory, the other an Autumn Blaze which I think are Lipsticks?

Canadian/Lipstick/Negundo Maples have a very structured branch layout, which often have the central leader cut about two meters to allow the canopy to develop. If damage occurs below that point, the tree may end up looking disfigured from then on.

That's interesting, at what age is the leader cut? Is that 'cut when it gets to 2m' or 'cut to 2m below the canopy when the tree is say 4m high' ?

The stumps are about 100mm thick at the cut and 1.5m high, both are shooting like crazy from the sides and predominantly at the top.

The growth generated will be fast, and you may need to tip prune the new growth at some stage to encourage additional branching.

Over the last couple of crazy rainfall years some of the lateral branches grew so fast that they drooped under their own weight before browing upwards and grew with a bow. Something else I'm wary of.

I tried getting an arborist to come here and trim/shape as appropriate but no one would do it for only 4x 4yo trees.

 

[DFB5.0]

Lol oops sorry I thought Acer described the type. One was an October Glory, the other an Autumn Blaze which I think are Lipsticks?



That's interesting, at what age is the leader cut? Is that cut when it gets to 2m, or cut to 2m below the canopy when the tree is say 4m high?.

The stumps are about 100mm thick at the cut and 1.5m high, both are shooting like crazy from the sides and predominantly at the top.



Over the last couple of crazy rainfall years some of the lateral branches grew so fast that they drooped under their own weight before browing upwards and grew with a bow. Something else I'm wary of.

I tried getting an arborist to come here and trim/shape as appropriate but no one would do it for only 4x 4yo trees.

Typical arborist, never happy unless wielding a chainsaw!

All of the trees we sell as potted stock are from our surplus bare-root winter stock. After being bare-rooted, we need to cut the branch work back to compensate for the root disturbance and also shape the tree up for the rest of it's life.........this includes docking the central leader to start the canopy branching (That step is subjective, some prefer to maintain the leader, others like myself prefer to dock and encourage better branching.) Our bare-root stock of maples are generally 1.8 - 2.0 meters high and we take about 20 - 30 cm off the central leader and shorten everything else back by half.

This graphic on the back of the label is a simplistic display of what I'm talking about.

This is close to what we do in the nursery for bare-root stock once potted in late winter -

Lessons on Caring for a Red Maple Tree - YouTube

This is for more advanced specimens -

Pruning a Maple Tree - YouTube

Without seeing the tree, I would think you will need to thin out some of the branches and shorten the taller ones to encourage more lateral growth rather than just shooting for the sky. This is not hard and can be done with good secateurs or loppers. If you supply a pic I may be more targeted in my advice.

 

[GT 550]

That's awesome @DFB5.0 thanks. I'll get a pic up tomorrow.

 

[DFB5.0]

That's awesome @DFB5.0 thanks. I'll get a pic up tomorrow.

Try not to overthink the pruning, it often sounds harder than it is, and in general, pruning stimulates growth so even if you make a wrong cut, the plant will bounce back.

 

[GT 550]

Thanks those Youtube links are really good. Here's one of the trees in question about 1.5m high:

As you can see from the earthworks and flags in the background I'm redecorating Or I would be if it'd stop raining.

 

[DFB5.0]

Thanks those Youtube links are really good. Here's one of the trees in question about 1.5m high:

As you can see from the earthworks and flags in the background I'm redecorating Or I would be if it'd stop raining.

At that height, I would be giving it a light feed (not Seasol!) and allow it some time to respond.

Feed it heavily in early Spring, and be sure to thin it out to three main leaders that shoot from the trunk. Hopefully it will produce some growth over the next couple of months before the winter sets in.

 

[GT 550]

Not Seasol? Do tell. I use Powerfeed liquid (which has a Seasol type ingredient?) and Landscape blend slow release. I generally always use Seasol on new plants but I'm open minded to ditching it.

Speaking of feeding trees, the wisdom seems to be that the fert (and water for that matter) should be applied at the edge of the dripline which always seems crazy but apparently that's where the feeder roots are. When there's no dripline I'm assuming the same applies?

Re 3 leaders is that in order to choose the strongest one when the time comes or pick one and prune the others harder?

As you can tell I'm keen to get it right...

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