Saving a large pine with a split in the trunk

[halestorm]

Hi all,

Wondering if I could get some help by someone a bit more knowledgeable. I have a woodlot that had severe wind damage from hurricane fiona, this unfortunately meant most of the trees blew down and only left a small percentage of larger pines. We got most of the downed trees cleaned up but while I was doing more work I noticed this (picture attached) in one of the very few remaining pines.

Couple of questions:

1. How dangerous is it to be around this thing.
2. Is there anything I can do to help this big guy out? I obviously want to try to keep anything that’s still standing upright and healthy.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Seachaser]

Around here pine beetles attack weak or inured trees. Then they are history. But if the wound tars over before they attack, it could live for years. We have trees around here that have cat faces where they used to dip turpentine. These trees are 70-100 years old and still going strong. I’ll try to post an example.

 

[pdqdl]

That looks more like a "strike" injury than any kind of splitting. If that is split, there will be similar damage on the other side of the tree. Absent any matching splits on the other side of the tree, I don't think I would worry about it.

 

[Henry Finley]

Looks like a lightning strike to me. Better to get it down now while it's green than wait till it dies and have half of it come down and konk you on the head from chainsaw vibrations. Chainsaws make noise. You can't hear the tree break off so you can run like the devil's chasing you. A dead pine tree can be very nasty.

 

[Henry Finley]

On seconnd though, just from looking at the picture, look at all that firewood already on the ground. Why do you need to care about that 1 tree? The safest play is to let the tree stand there just as it is, and spend your time picking up all the goodies already on the ground. I figure you're not a clearcutter. They have machinery that can grab hold of that tree and whack it off at the bottom and lay it on a pile like it was a toothpick. I lived in the country a lot of years. They can take 40 acres and turn it into an eyesore within the week, for the subdivision contractors to come in and turn it into hell. That one tree is worth doodly squat. Safety first.