Please help. I know so very little abt oak trees. I have one in my yard. The trunk is about 40 inches in diameter, branch span about 45 feet on all sides. Several people have told me it is about 400 years old, but when Hugo came thru WV years ago, lightening struck the tree. It has a raw place about 3 feet by 2 feet. In the past years (close to 20) the wound has started to close and has been reduced by several inches. The tree has several dead limbs but I am considering cutting the whole tree for fear of it dying and hitting my house. All of the older people who see it says that oak trees rot from the inside and I won't know its rotten until it falls. Does anyone know what I should look for in making my decision?
to cut or not to cut
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Husky137
Addicted to ArboristSite
I would contact a certified arborist and have him assess your tree properly.
Ekka
Addicted to ArboristSite
Have a read of this thread, it'll shed some light for you and the things that go thru our minds as to "guess" the stability of the tree.
http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=36979
http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=36979
bz262
ArboristSite Lurker
unless you can find some serious rot or instability, err on the side of saving it, or spend some money to preserve rather than cut. nice, old oaks are becoming rare
bz262 said:
just had an oak felled that was here right around the time the civil was happening. had 2 arborist asses it and it lost a big limb a month or so back. it is a dead tree and for everybodys safety we had to say goodbye to a wonderful tree. very hard decision but when you look at the other side of it like the tree coming down on a car or house or worse yet a person it was the correct choice.
It's hard to give advice without seeing at least a picture. Cna you post one please? To assess decay, just measure the cavity with a yardstick. A general rule is, if it has lost 2/3 of the wood, it has lost 1/3 of its strength. Many other factors come into play tho.
This decision should be made 0nly after a professional assessment. http://www.isa-arbor.com/findArborist/findarborist.aspx
The older people are right; oaks often rot from the inside out. They also add strength on the outside, which can be more important. Attached is one case of an old hollow oak living a long time.
This decision should be made 0nly after a professional assessment. http://www.isa-arbor.com/findArborist/findarborist.aspx
The older people are right; oaks often rot from the inside out. They also add strength on the outside, which can be more important. Attached is one case of an old hollow oak living a long time.
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ddhlakebound
Addicted to ArboristSite
About 100 yards from the house, on the edge of the pasture, I have an old white oak, wider than it is tall, probably 50 feet tall, 60-70 feet wide, about 48 inches dbh, and completely hollow, with a hole in the base. The hole is big enough, and the tree hollow enough that my 11yr old and my 7yr old can both climb inside the tree at the same time, stand up and have room to play. The hollow runs high enough that bats den in the upper reaches of it.
Thankfully it does not have a target, but the tree appears healthy and strong. It has beautiful branch structure, and crotches, and a wide full canopy. It has obviously been hollow for many years, with no care or reduction whatsoever. I would estimate its wall thickness varying from 8-10 inches around the circumference of the tree.
I've worried many times that it will fail under high wind stress. Thankfully, due to its placement, I can watch it, enjoy it, and maybe learn something from it as it continues to grow, or fails in a storm.
If it were next to the house though, well, I'm not sure I'd be able to keep it. But I'd feel terrible if I removed it, it could go twenty more years or more.
Thankfully it does not have a target, but the tree appears healthy and strong. It has beautiful branch structure, and crotches, and a wide full canopy. It has obviously been hollow for many years, with no care or reduction whatsoever. I would estimate its wall thickness varying from 8-10 inches around the circumference of the tree.
I've worried many times that it will fail under high wind stress. Thankfully, due to its placement, I can watch it, enjoy it, and maybe learn something from it as it continues to grow, or fails in a storm.
If it were next to the house though, well, I'm not sure I'd be able to keep it. But I'd feel terrible if I removed it, it could go twenty more years or more.
Dixie1
ArboristSite Operative
if it keeps you awake at night, take it down. no one wants to have to remove a tree like that, but safety sounds like an issue. do get a certified arborist to look at it since we can only see if from our computers.
Very, very cool. Think about tubular steel if u ever think of doing any work on this tree u should come 2 this web first to ask questions. Care 4 this tree would be simple for any person even a regular Joe. Most of the care is done on the ground.:help: Whenever u hire a tree service/arborist/salesman/whatever/ they all want your money.ddhlakebound said:
but on arbor-site.com u can talk to an arborist a zillion miles away that never wants a dime from u ever. :monkey: Isn't that sweet.:hmm3grin2orange: U should show some pics of this tree and title it ancient white oak (quercus alba)
Ekka
Addicted to ArboristSite
ddhlakebound said:
Now some science and maths.
If the tree is 48" DBH then it is 24" radius.
If the wall thickness is 8" then the math looks like this ....
8/24 = 33.33% so is within the scope of the required wall thickness of >30%.
The other factor to be considered is how large the opening is as part of the circumference. Where the circumference (all the way around the tree) is 100% then the opening cant be more than 40% (nearly half) for the above 30% to be used.
If the opening exceeds 40% then a 2/3 or 60% wall thickness rule needs to apply. This is according to the USDF Tree Hazard Assessment Criteria.
Many notes have been made and found where oaks have good resistance to decay in the sapwood layer and wall thickness as low as 7% have been found with standing trees. The 30% rule above is erring on the side of caution and is not species specific, it has to take into consideration trees with softer wood and taller for for that DBH.
So I'd say you'll be long gone before your oak tree.
And if you wanted to be even more cautious you could always prune a little off every year, but honesty, you'd probably be doing more damage than good.
Just look after it with mulch and a little organic fertilizer plus soil conditioners ... worms are great, and that ole beauty will be round for decades.
Any chance of some pics of the tree?
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