by Aaron Schulz
ISA Board Certified Master Arborist IL-9078B
Plant Health Care Director
Oak Bros Tree Care & Removal, LLC
In the medical field there are numerous advanced tools that are used to gather more information about your body in the case of an illness or broken bone. These advanced tools allow practitioners to make informed decisions about health care recommendations. Like humans, trees have diseases and defects. These diseases and defects may impact the integrity of tree stability and in order to accurately assess the test defects, access to advanced tools is required. Fortunately, Oak Bros Tree Care owns one of the most advanced tree assessment tools available: SONIC TOMOGRAPHY.
Trees are dense organisms that do not allow us to see inside of them. Sure, we can use our eyes and some hand tools to look into and poke around a cavity but how do we really comprehend the effect of that cavity on tree stability? Sonic tomography is a non-invasive advanced assessment tool that utilizes stress waves, by tapping sensors with a hammer, to measure the speed at which sound travels between sensors.
As sensors are tapped, calibrated software is measuring the speed at which each stress wave takes to reach all of the other sensors. Solid wood travels at a high speed, while decayed or defected wood travels at a slower speed. Once all of the sensors have been tapped it’s time for us to evaluate the data.
In this reading, using the sensor placement in the previous photo, we can see that stress waves travel slower in the center to left quadrants of the stem, indicating that there is a defect, most likely a cavity.
To measure the extent of this defect, we position the sensory in the buttress flares for another reading to gather more data.
In the lower sensor placement, we can see that the defect has expanded to encompass a significant amount of the tree’s trunk area. By using our two readings together we can begin to formulate sound recommendations based on data we’ve compiled.
As tree care professionals we understand the importance of providing accurate recommendations based on evidence. Not every tree with decay needs to be removed, but without the necessary tools some trees are removed prematurely. Our sonic tomograph is just one tool in our toolbox that we can use to provide sound recommendations for your trees. If your trees have cavities or you’ve seen mushrooms near your tree’s base then your property is a candidate for sonic tomography.
Contact our office at (309) 392-4127 to schedule an appointment with our ISA Board Certified Master Arborist.
