flyfshrmn
ArboristSite Lurker
questions and answers
As far as the trunk integrity, this one was poor. It had been damaged, probably by lightning strike as evidenced by some internal charring and was missing bark on about the outer third of the trunk up to about 8 feet. The trunk wood in this area was dry and dead and the trunk split right along the live/dead wood boundary when it went down. The integrity was compromised too much to handle both the wind load and the 60K pounds plus weight of the tree. The other tree dropped a branch in 2005 and there was a big dead knot at the base of the branch where it broke off. But the tree itself went down in a heavy windstorm after several weeks of rain had saturated the ground and it was fully leafed out. The root structure was incapable of handling the wind loading in the wet ground and the roots were simply pulled up as it went over. It still had enough rooting to transport water and stay mostly green, even when down. There's another tree, even larger on the same property, but it shows no signs of weakness and it's surrounded by several smaller trees which provide a partial wind break. These trees can get as old as 140-150 years before going down. What usually gets them is rot caused by water infiltration along insect bores or termite infestation. Both trees were filled with channels cut by flat nosed borers. I cut up another tree in town that was just as large. It dropped a branch spontaneously in midsummer and when inspected by an arborist, was found to be harboring a huge bee colony and to be in imminent danger of falling and crushing the residence and had to be removed. The branch it dropped fell on the owner's lawnmower, among other things. The mower was driven into the ground about two feet and flattened like a beer can. This tree was in the back yard of the house, surrounded by structures and was removed by sectioning off the branches and lifting them out by crane, then attaching the crane to the trunk and cutting it free from the stump, a very impressive performance by the tree service guys. The stump section was 40 feet long and 5.5 feet in diameter at the base, weighed close to 35K pounds.
As far as the trunk integrity, this one was poor. It had been damaged, probably by lightning strike as evidenced by some internal charring and was missing bark on about the outer third of the trunk up to about 8 feet. The trunk wood in this area was dry and dead and the trunk split right along the live/dead wood boundary when it went down. The integrity was compromised too much to handle both the wind load and the 60K pounds plus weight of the tree. The other tree dropped a branch in 2005 and there was a big dead knot at the base of the branch where it broke off. But the tree itself went down in a heavy windstorm after several weeks of rain had saturated the ground and it was fully leafed out. The root structure was incapable of handling the wind loading in the wet ground and the roots were simply pulled up as it went over. It still had enough rooting to transport water and stay mostly green, even when down. There's another tree, even larger on the same property, but it shows no signs of weakness and it's surrounded by several smaller trees which provide a partial wind break. These trees can get as old as 140-150 years before going down. What usually gets them is rot caused by water infiltration along insect bores or termite infestation. Both trees were filled with channels cut by flat nosed borers. I cut up another tree in town that was just as large. It dropped a branch spontaneously in midsummer and when inspected by an arborist, was found to be harboring a huge bee colony and to be in imminent danger of falling and crushing the residence and had to be removed. The branch it dropped fell on the owner's lawnmower, among other things. The mower was driven into the ground about two feet and flattened like a beer can. This tree was in the back yard of the house, surrounded by structures and was removed by sectioning off the branches and lifting them out by crane, then attaching the crane to the trunk and cutting it free from the stump, a very impressive performance by the tree service guys. The stump section was 40 feet long and 5.5 feet in diameter at the base, weighed close to 35K pounds.
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; our trees are DBH averaging < 24". In Rare cases a dead standing 'pasture oak' > 36" left long ago as a property marker will need felling. Most of our bars are +/- 24" tops. And, most sawlog/veneer cuts are hardwoods, not those easy peazy obese softwoods found on the left coast.:hmm3grin2orange::msp_ohmy:
