I have taken to calling it Arnold because just like Schwarzenegger, "He'll be back".
Ooh, look: sprouts!
The above picture was taken 11 days ago, about 2 weeks after we first got down to cutting. I have seen the previously cut trunk pieces s sprouting because stored water remained in the wood but that didn't amount to anything. I'm not taking any chances though, so off I went and borrowed a chainsaw and cut off the branch-bases that were showing signs of growth and shortened the top stumps. It's still a daunting job when the fully-exposed tree-base is this size. I'd prefer to to try and burn this monster base to avoid days and days of chopping. While the chainsaw works for cutting trunks, all you can do with it on the base is make deep cuts and hope that the scoring will speed up water-loss. There's no cutting this thing.
10 days after that, I'm daring to say that I see a change in the bark and it actually looks like it is dying off on the parts that I haven't stripped and the stripped sections are growing mould with all this rain.
Of course, nothing's stopping the roots from pushing up sprouts but so far there are none. Will there be a sequel? Who knows. What I do know is that I need to get a dryhouse built to protect the smaller plants from hail, yesterday was a good reminder of that and I have earmarked the corner where the tree base is as a suitable spot. It's North-facing and already enclosed on two sides. All I really need to do is make a frame that I can cover with shadecloth on the side and transparent sheeting on top and I'll be set up.
