scratching my head, what is this wood going to be like?

[shootingarts]

I am currently living on this place, more of a caretaker than anything else. This pecan in the front yard was hit by lightning roughly three years ago. An obvious strike in an upper branch and then the damage could be traced all the way to the ground. This happened during growing season and the bark was blasted free of the sapwood all the way around the trunk for six or eight feet near the ground. Huge cracks in the sapwood, maybe a half inch wide, inches deep.

This is an old mature tree over seventy-five feet tall, past it's life really as are all of the original pecans in the yard but they can't be removed, family choice. If this one falls towards the house it is likely to do moderate damage, probably under ten thousand at a WAG. Seems like an easy choice to drop except for one odd thing, this tree never so much as dropped a leaf when it was hit by lightning! Seems to be destroyed but it doesn't know that. As healthy as ever except the minor detail of the bark hanging free of the trunk and all of the sapwood exposed.

The catch is that we get the occasional category three or four storm here and I suspect that when one has the place square in it's sights is when it will be time to drop this tree. It will be my baby to rock then as of course the whole world will be wanting dangerous trees down. Not much room to drop the tree, best shot would probably do moderate damage to a pear and possibly some blueberry bushes. Other direction it would tangle limbs heavily enough with another similar pecan to certainly damage the other tree, possibly roll off of it with unintended consequences, some fence damage regardless. The tree has a very slight back lean towards the house when evaluating from the direction I want to fell it. Maybe two feet. Call it four to err well on the side of safety. Side lean is maybe four feet considering extreme ends of branches. Considering the mass of the limbs it is actually zero or close to it. Might even fall slightly away from the side lean.

The catch is the wood in the tree. I don't think I have ever seen one this severely blasted by lightning and live. I have no idea what the wood of the tree is like. Will it hinge? Will it snap as soon as the tree starts over? Definitely wedge from the back and a safety line but I'm baffled by what I am cutting into. Maybe a test bore with a drill when and if the time comes? Huge lack of trust of this wood. Maybe a step cut would give more insurance than a more typical hinge?

Hu

 

[jefflovstrom]

Why not climb it?
Jeff

 

[woodchuck357]

I would guy it, three ways. Then climb and take it down from the top. Some lighting struck trees fall in one piece, some are almost like a bundle of chop sticks on the inside.

 

[shootingarts]

The catch with climbing is it is very unlikely to have a climber available when this project gets hot. I don't expect to get permission to cut the tree until it is a last minute choice between the tree and the house. Green leaves on all the major limbs in the growing season right now but I'll be doing pretty good to even round up a safety person to cover my rear while I'm cutting when and if the time comes. Climbing simply isn't an option for me personally, a wee bit gimpy. May never take this tree down but trying to put a plan of attack in place seems like a good idea. Asking about it helps me learn a little too. woodchuck357 has found exactly what I was concerned about, very structurally unsound wood in some of these trees.

At least an option might be to pull it over with a farm tractor after leaving a little thicker than normal hinge. Might increase the chance of a barber chair but in this case a barber chair wouldn't hurt a thing as long as it didn't happen while cutting, thirty or forty feet clear behind it and if a little firewood is salvaged that will be the most the tree is used for, maybe a bowl or two. Good chance it won't be used at all.

Hu

 

[woodchuck357]

I have never had a problem with hitting guy cables. If you were worried, use a zip line to control the drops.
If there is no way to convince the "decider" to take it down when there is no "emergency" in the offing, wrap the trunk with heavy duty load straps or chains with binders to help keep the trunk in one piece. The biggest remaining problem, if the inside is all busted up, is the big chance the saw bar will get bound up when tensions are released by cutting. Cut a little, move up a half inch and cut a little more. Alternate until you can tell if the inside is discombobulated. Have more than one saw ready and at hand.

 

[zogger]

The last two lightning struck trees I did were both large and completely and utterly croaked. I chained them up in two places above my felling cuts, just in case. The second one, 30 inch diameter oak, I am glad I did, big cracks all the way through it when i bucked it up closer to the stump base. Can't say it would have chaired, but a few minutes preliminary work isn't too hard.

Tell ya, we got hit with a small tornado a few years ago, coulda croaked, big oak branch that should have come down in advance snapped, blew sideways, crashed down the middle of the cabin. The brick chimney stopped it at the ridgeline, but a foot either way and it would have smashed to the floor and most likely wiped us out..... Dang spooky, tell ya whut to have tons of oak in the living room with ya with a good 2-3 seconds notice....that's what lead me to CAD and this site and more saws and learning to deal with larger trees and wood.

Hazard trees near structures, get them down now before an emergency situation.

With that said, the owners need to get real on dangerous hazard trees. The insurance company is proly not gonna pay any on such a tree/ damage it causes when it is known in advance it is severely lightning damaged. Plus, people in house could get hurt.

And the adjusters ain't idjits either, they will know if they inspect it after the fact. It may be technically alive, but if it is screwed up like in your pics they will see that.

 

[shootingarts]

Thanks for some great information! The recommendations to climb were good, just not advice I have any way to put to use. I had planned to use the ten thousand pound cargo straps on a leaner for added insurance if and when I tackled one, hadn't thought about them on this tree. Definitely couldn't hurt and could make a huge difference. I will not tackle the job without using them. The owners are good folks and smart people, also one just had some pretty major tree damage to their home only about a month ago. However they are absentee owners, actually heirs, and they don't visit but a half-dozen times a year or less. They seem to respect my judgment and the care I take of the place but hearing about things over the phone isn't quite the same as looking at them. I had the same kind of issues, much worse in truth, with bosses in the office when I was pushing crews for people in the petro-chem plants many years ago. Things are filtered at least by the viewer's and listener's perceptions when talking over the phone. Past experience might have one thinking a folded paper boat is sinking and the other one thinking the Titanic is going down or vice-versa. I do like people better who are mellow until they see the situation than people that panic over every little thing.

I will see what develops with the pecan. Something I just remembered, there is a bucket available for rent only fifteen miles from here. I can trailer it back and forth, might keep the cost reasonable. I have worked out of buckets and would be pretty comfortable doing that. Four hours would probably cover the job including the trucking assuming I could lay hands on the bucket when I needed it. Need to inspect a water oak that also poses a threat to the house, perhaps a more serious one than the pecan. However the water oak other than perhaps one large limb is a threat I just have to live with, no way is it coming down. That limb is out of reach of any ladder I own for inspection and it has some damage near the trunk where a small limb was torn off leaving a hole behind. That hole catches water every time it rains and has a large black stain under it. No idea how long it has been like that or the amount of damage to the main limb. That limb alone could do more damage to the house than the pecan is likely to. If someone else or I am in a bucket to inspect and deal with the oak I might be able to get at least some trimming done on the pecan which would make things more manageable and probably be better for the health of the pecan if it doesn't come down.

Thanks for the advice, all great!

Edit: I do know better than to try to give adjusters a song and dance, I owned body shops and had customers want me to try it. I always explained to them it wouldn't work and could show them why. Homes and trees are much the same for adjusters in those areas. Those guys are experts that see hundreds of claims a year and it isn't often you can get away with a song and dance routine. A few exceptions but I generally found them to be reasonable when you didn't try to shine them on. None of us like to be treated like we are stupid and adjusters are the same way.

Hu