Oak Tree Questions

[PJP]

Hey all, attached are some pictures of an oak that I am debating on completely removing or (if possible) keeping one stem. It is a multi-stemmed oak with one stem infected with coral spot nectria canker that you can see in the picture. The fungus does go slightly in to the co-dominant stem but is the worst on the branch itself. Just thinking about this makes me want to perform a complete removal.

My initial thoughts were to remove the whole tree because of major pruning cuts + fungus but the homeowner is very attached to her trees so I am looking for last resort options to try and keep stem #1 intact for her.

The stems are numbered in the pictures. Also circled in one of the pictures in blue are dead stubs / cavities / hollow spots in trunk / branches. There are miscellaneous dead branches up in the canopy but do not look like any real issue.

There is one picture with yellow lines indicating the stems I was thinking of cutting off but my concern is that the wounds are going to be so large that decay organisms / insects will have so much time to make their attack or decay is going to get in to the main stem anyways after those cuts.

Do you think it is a bad idea to try and save stem #1?

Like I said my initial thoughts are just to remove the whole tree but wanted to get other suggestions / opinions.

The asphalt in picture is a shared driveway but no dwellings in fall zone... Tree is roughly 50' tall with a huge lower 2 / 3 spread as you can see.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Oldmaple]

Large pruning cuts will take a loooong time to close over making them prime for decay. However when determining risk you need to consider what the target is. If it's just going to fall in the dirt if it fails, then so what (unless you're the earthworm it falls on).