Vandals destroy 30 trees at Cuesta College

OMG, are they nuts? Liquidambar?

if Liquidambar was their first choice for tree replacement, what was their second choice? Poison sumac?

I think someone at Cuesta has a pal or crony who has a bunch of liquidambar they want to get rid of. Really, I can’t think of a worse tree to plant in a public place, especially so close to a structure (sidewalk). After about 8 years, they’ll be repairing that sidewalk every 3 years or so.

This is a truly bad decision, which will end up costing them a lot when the trees start to mature.

If this decision is typical for the administrative-level decisions made at Questa, I can see why Cuesta is in such a bad financial shape.

Informed people don’t use Liquidambar trees for anyplace where people will be walking, where there are sidewalks, or where there are water and/or sewer lines.

Their roots are very aggressive and will plug up a septic system in just a few years. Their roots heave and uplift sidewalks, which is a huge safety hazard, and requires frequent sidewalk repairs. Their roots spread far beyond the canopy, and it is commonly advised that a Liquidambar not be planted any closer than 25-35 feet from a structure.

They get HUGE, and are inappropriate for small (less than 1/4 acre) lots.

They are very, very brittle, and, not only are they prone to producing a large amount of litter of twigs and small branches, they will drop a large limb without warning.

The leaves are beautiful in the fall, but a big tree produces a LOT of leaves, and they fall all at once. If you don’t get the leaves raked up and off walking surfaces, they turn slimy, which increases the risk of a slip-and-fall accident.

The seed pods, and their pokey daggers which stick out all over them,are from heII, and even a small tree drops an amazing number of the pods.

They release a very allergy-provoking pollen. People who have never had allergies in their life will turn out to be allergic to Liquidambar pollen.

They can produce a LOT of suckers in your lawn or whatever. If you pull a sucker out, or cut it off at the base, you actually are triggering more to form.

Finally, they are hard to kill. Yeah, you can taken them down to the ground level, but unless you get stump-grinding done (and it isn’t cheap), they sucker like crazy from the remaining wood in the ground.

Here’s a link to a great powerpoint that has a lot of photo images of trees causing problems in the City of DuPont. The majority of the trees are–you guessed it!–liquidambar. This is a good powerpoint to demonstrate problem-causing tree placement.

“Common Tree Issues in DuPont Neighborhoods”

(http://www.ci.dupont.wa.us/files/library/7444c966196b40bc_o.pdf)

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Here are other photo images. There are a LOT of images on the web of problems caused by Liquidambar trees

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http://media.columbiamissourian.com/multimedia/2012/04/16/media/041612_SweetGumTreesvsSidewalks014_t_w600_h450.jpg

Sweet gum trees marked for removal”

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(http://besttreestoplant.com/planting-trees/never-plant-this-tree-in-your-yard/)

“Never Plant This Tree In Your Yard”

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The Council of the City of Pittwater (Australia) planted liquidambar as street trees. Well, they have caused damage to many homes, and one resident’s homeowners are threatening to take them to court because the damage from the roots to their block wall will cost up to $12,000 to repair. The funny part is the Council is demanding the homeowner get the block wall repaired, but they refuse to pay for the damage the Council’s trees did to the wall!

(http://www.treeworld.info/f9/pittwater-council-liquidambar-wrecks-wall-12-a-19743.html)

“Pittwater Council liquidambar wrecks wall – $12,000 repair”

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(http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/environment/news/details.asp?NewsID=1632&TargetID=64)

“Developer to Remove 9 Street Trees to Build Office Space and Underground Garage”

….“The existing street trees are liquidambars and camphors, which cause pedestrian hazards along the sidewalk from overgrowth that obstructs a portion of the sidewalk, large roots that push up the sidewalk and conflict with nearby utilities, and the spiky seed pods of the liquidambars that drop everywhere,” said Mike Sartor, Assistant Director of Public Works. “In fact, we no longer plant either of these tree species as street trees anymore because they cause significant damage to sidewalks and adjacent infrastructure.”…..

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