FredL

Thanks very much for the comments, all. Really something to think about. With about 5 of them rather similar to this one, certainly the idea of a radical trunk chop seems like something to try with at least one.

It seems to me that I have seen fruit trees similar to this with rather tall, taperless trunks which have alot of wood whittled away, like old trees in an orchard with trunks that have had alot of decay and woodpecker (I suppose) damage. I think 2 or 3 of mytrunks are thick enough to support something like that.

I'm going to take my young friend Wes (Orn to all of you) to take a look at this copse of trees. Some of the inner trees are pretty big (for this species) and there are many more loke the trees I collected. The trouble with collecting in Bella Vista is that the pace of development is becoming so fast that real nice trees that are in the road right of way are here today and gone tomorrow (the POA has no problem with such trees being collected - in fact, they welcome it).

I really want to thank all of you for helping me with such poor quality photos.

Fred