Newbie Needs Help! - Mature Pin Oak - PICS

[Grenfell]

Newbie Needs Help! Part 1 - Mature Pin Oak - PICS

Hi everyone,

I stumbled onto this forum while looking for advice concerning some trees on my lot. I'm hoping you can help me out!

I recently purchased a new (but older) home on a large-ish lot (~1/2 acre) in the city. The lot has several mature trees and the landscaping was pretty neglected when we moved in. I've cleaned things up and I've noticed that many of the trees need some care. I live in Eastern Ontario, Canada and in 1999, we were hit by a severe ice storm that damaged many of our trees.

I've got a few questions about several trees, so I thought I would make individual posts for each. This first post is for a mature pin oak, approx. 50-60' tall. It has a straight main trunk until around 12' where several leaders emerge at narrow crotch angles. I've attached pics of the area, as well as shots of the tree as a whole.

Should I have the leaders pruned down to a central leader or should I just leave the tree alone? I don't want to damage it if necessary but I don't want a ticking tree-bomb either. Any advice would be appreciated, TIA!

 

[treeseer]

Bad-looking attachments, true, but 2 factors make splitting less likely.

One is the neighboring trees, sharing the wind.

Two is crossing branches, which tend to hold the trunks together.

At most cable it, I would say.

 

[Grenfell]

Thanks treeseer. I've been fretting about this tree for a while. I had another arborist give me a quote/appraisal and he mentioned pruning it to encourage the growth of a single leader. I understand his reasoning but the tree seems a bit too far grown for that kind of heavy pruning I would have thought?