Split trunk maple has lost two out of three split branches

[ANewSawyer]

A friend was telling me that she has an old split trunk maple (she thinks it is a maple anyway) and it has three main braches running up from the base trunk. The trunk is large and had lost one of the main braches a few years ago. We had bad storms over the weekend and it lost another main brach. I am not an expert but it sounds to me like that tree is slowly dying. I am going to go have a look at it later this week and maybe I will bring back some photos.

 

[BC WetCoast]

If it's lost two of its three codominant stems (which I think is what you're describing) it's dying faster than slow. If you see any rot where the recent break occurred, recommend to your friend she have it removed sooner rather than later. If there's no rot, it should probably still be removed, but the urgency isn't quite as high.

 

[ANewSawyer]

Codominant branch. I was trying to think of leader but that is a different term. I think... I am not really knowlegeable in arborist matters. Forgive me for my ignorance.


I got a closer look at the maple tonight. I meant to take my camera but was in a hurry and forgot it. I cannot see the break directly. It is over six feet off the ground where the trunk splits. I thought I saw roting wood at the old break wound that is 2+ years old. She is talking about hiring a "tree service" to cut up and haul off the down wood. I am thinking that if it were me, I would be wasting money to have a tree service cut the wood on the ground without removing the whole tree. I almost think I could cut up what is on the ground. I would have to be careful about about braches under tension, as the base of the branch is still up in the air. It may be that the branch is wedged to trunk. That would probably need moved for safety's sake asap.

 

[BC WetCoast]

 

[ANewSawyer]

QFT! Some lazy bum needs to get off his chair and take some pics! Oh wait... ​

 

[chad stafford]

It might need some weight took off of it by topping it


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[no tree to big]

It might need some weight took off of it by topping it


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No no it does not! topping is the cure for nothing

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[chad stafford]

Ya ok!! You obviously don't know jack about trees


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[no tree to big]

Ya ok!! You obviously don't know jack about trees


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So who are you? And can you school me on how to properly top a tree?

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[chad stafford]

I'm sure I could.


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[chad stafford]

All y'all tree trimmers on here you are more then welcome to chime in. Who else thinks roping a tree doesn't help with weight and splitting



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[chad stafford]

Topping


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[no tree to big]

I was not asking if u could school me I was asking you to do it! Topping is one of the most frowned upon practices in tree care!

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[ANewSawyer]

I don't know who you are, Chad, but kindly remove yourself from this thread. Thank you.

My neighbor decided to have that tree removed.
Well, if we would stop having storms maybe it could get removed. And I did finally take some pics but just haven't had time to do any uploading. Sorry!

 

[TheJollyLogger]

No, Chad, you won't find much support for topping here. Most AS members subscribe to ISA practices whether they're a member or not.

 

[pro94lt]

WOW...

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Sometimes it's easy to forget topping is still an accepted practice in a lot of places.