I had an arborist come out and assess alot of my trees, he pointed out that this one only has a few years left of that.
Not sure who did any previous pruning as I've only lived on the property for a few years.
The arborist advised that I should clean out the holes on the side and cover them with some type of screen to prevent debris and critters from making nest.
I would like to have someone come out and cut all the dead out of the tree, would that be beneficial?
by Purepk509
14 Comments
Don’t just cut the dead out, prune the hell out of it. Like cut all the branches with just to a foot or two of the trunk. Do the pruning in the early spring before the sap starts running. Tree will bush out and live another 30 plus years .
I think that the tree has some life if you prune the dead back (or let it be, it isn’t causing problems on its own but could fall and hit someone), do a root crown excavation and biostimulant/compost tea back into the root system, and the screens recommended by an arborist are not a bad idea
Good luck! Prune the dead limbs and screens on the open holes.
Placing screens on hollows to prevent nesting, huh? Wish I could go one day without learning about a new way people have found to kick nature in the nuts.
I’d advocate for treating it as the natural wildlife shelter/habitat that it is. Many species of flora and fauna depend on trees, particularly old trees like this. Leave the dead branches, unless they pose a hazard and don’t screen the holes, they’re great nesting places. Dead trees certainly don’t look pretty but they’re invaluable to the ecosystem.
Wuf! Fell the tree. It’s likely hollow on the inside. Termites, carpenter Ants or wood beetles have likely settled in. If your going to keep the tree treat it with Copper Sulfate cause you have issues with mold, spores, and fungi on the bark. Do some serious delimbing. If you find dark spots in the center of any of your limbs fell the tree. Not to much can be done with a diseased tree.
Pruning the dead might be nice, from a monitoring pov, but if it’s unlikely people would get hit by falling debris maybe channel that money into soil remediation. At the very least, remove grass and woodchip mulch to the dripline. Add native perennials. If you have mounds of cash, airspade that shit first. Covering the holes isn’t gonna do a whole lot but have at it if you can do it without harming the tree.
7
Omai wa, mo shinderu
If you do nothing: 2-5 years. If you address the soil compaction: ask again in 30 years.
The problem here is almost certainly soil compaction. The roots aren’t getting enough air (and the beneficial symbiotic microbes also suffer in compacted soils) the tree has to expend significantly more energy to get and move nutrients through the roots in this compacted soil. The tree responds to this stress by cutting off nutrient flow to the branch tips (furthest distance from the roots) to conserve energy, and produces a bunch of new growth closer in and lower down to compensate. As long as the parts of the tree that are still green still have a reasonable leaf coverage (you can see more green than sky when looking through it) and it is uniform (you don’t have a large dead section all the way to the trunk.) You can usually make a full recovery with just soil decompaction. As others have already mentioned, air excavation or vertical mulching or root zone excavation or air trenching, etc any of these will accomplish the same goal.
The biggest risk the dead wood poses to the tree health is that it will eventually fall and may damage healthy growth on the way down. If you want to mitigate this, make sure you get a careful arborist who rigs the pieces. Chuck in the Truck llc. will go ahead and damage that live growth for you today, and at a darn competitive price.
Longer than you probably, me certainly
Imo cut it down, compost the stump, and plant a new sapling a few feet away if you liked the location.
a long time, if you prune it thoughtfully