Do trees provide balance/counterbalance?

[WiscoNeil]

There is a very large elm in our backyard and it has two main branches coming off the main trunk. One of them is all but completely dead based upon the upper branches rapidly loosing bark.

Can that half of the tree be removed without damage to the rest including leaving it 'unbalanced'? Is the remaining tree more susceptible to wind damage or falling over?

 

[Labman]

Look at all the stuff along the electric lines where they cut half of it away.

 

[sgreanbeans]

U can always remove deadwood. This will not cause the tree to fall over because it is "unbalanced". Trees can grow sideways, if that is what they need to do, to get to the sun. As long as the root system is intact, you will be fine. Taken that much live materiel will put an already stressed tree in to shock, so make sure it is dead.