Oak Problems at the Cemetery

[computeruser]

The attached pictures are of one of the numerous oaks at my family cemetery. Our oaks are having a number of problems, hopefully y'all can help me figure out what's going on and what, if anything, can be done.

1. Some of the oaks have been losing major limbs for as long as I can recall. The limbs will just break off, often without provocation from wind or ice. The most recent one was a 22" limb that fell from thirty feet or so, portions of which had a hollow center full of ants and moist, brown, decayed material. The point at which it broke from the tree, however, seemed reasonably solid, with the decay further along at 12"-18" diameter sections.

2. Some of the oaks, as with the pictured one, have been losing bark in vertical strips. The pictured oak started losing the bark about five years ago, and appears to have a crak developing in the center of the de-barked area. I assume that there is internal decay going on here, but there is no visible evidence on the trees afflicted with this bark loss. These trees still seem very vibrant, as shown in the third picture.

I would love to hear that there is some quick, easy, and inexpensive solution to these problems, but I realize that there probably is not. I sit on the board of the non-profit corporation that manages the cemetery and we can hardly afford to have the lawn cut, so expensive treatments are simply not an option.

So, any ideas what is going on with these trees? Are there any things that I should or should not be doing with these trees to preserve them as long as possible?

 

[treeseer]

The big limb that fell was "sudden limb drop". It can be avoided by careful pruning.

The crack looks like it is coming down from a tight fork with included bark; the crack may be starting waaaaaaaaaay up there. If so, those 2 stems should be lashed together with some heavy rope if you don't have the $ for a proper cable job.

whoever owns sites in there needs to pony up for a little maintenance. A little will go a long way.

 

[trees4est]

"sudden limb drop", is that the new term for "summer branch drop" or just a variation? Now that is one wild, if a bit scary, phenomenon. Not always related to poor pruning cuts, but often so. There is almost always some mitigating defect involved. I'd hate to be in a tree when it happened.
The long crack does look like it originates in the inclusion, though it's hard to tell. If so, that's pretty screwed up. It actually looks like a combo inclusion/ lightning strike, but I'll say again it's hard to tell. If the crack does extend from the fork down to the ground, I don't know if cabling or lashing with a rope is really going to help that much. That's a pretty extreme neutral plane fault, I think it's called. Is the crack going down only along one side?
You say the trees look vibrant, they do. This isn't a health issue, though, it's a structure issue. There might not be much decay- it looks like white oak, sometimes pretty decay resistant, though it depends on the individual. There are some problems, though.

 

[computeruser]

Thanks for the info, treeseer and trees4est, I appreciate it.

I just did some reading on sudden/summer limb drop on the knothole. I will try to get some arboriculture books and do some learning (suggestions?). At least it explains why a seemingly undamaged limb just splintered off the tree. I looked through my pictures of the limb, and none of them really show the detail of the limb at the break point, but it was substantially un-decayed and as soon as I could cut the splintered part off flush it was perfectly solid.

As for the split, there is no equivilent split going on on the other side of the tree.

Hopefully our finances will allow us to get an arborist in to examine and assess these trees and then come up with a long-term plan for them.

 

[treeseer]

not much in the literature about sld. It's not so much a response to bad pruning as a response to sprawling toward sunlight after clearing. Easy to predict; you just shorten the sprawling branches.

You cna check out the crack yourseld; just lean a ladder up and dig out the rot, then take another picture.

 

[Dadatwins]

Think drought conditions also help with sudden limb drop also. Looks like the grass at the cemetery is pretty browned over so you must be in area experiencing lack of rain also. I would be careful about any temporary fixes like roping splits together. It can work but I would be worrried about creating liability by showing that you recognize a problem but only made a temp. cheap fix. Cemetery road not the place to have a potential hazard. Call a qualified arborist, get it checked and address the problem properly.

 

[treeseer]

I would be careful about any temporary fixes like roping splits together. .

I would too. I'd use nylon rope to last, and plenty heavy to hold. I'd keep a record of monitoring, addressing other high-risk situations (every landowner should). A good cable would be much better, but it also "creates liability" (?) and it too would need monitoring.

Bottom line is that the stakeholders need to have a program and a budget for managing risk. It need not be all-comprehensive to be protective for their trees and also to cover thier aspirations for staying out of court.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

The crack that is running down the trunk is most likely NOT from the crotch, but rather it look like a classic example of lightening damage. When the electricity flows through the tree to the ground, the parts of the tree where the energy flows is super heated instantly and the moisture expands, causing the bark to blow off in long strips from where it was hit, to the ground. Wood can be cracked in varying degrees, from minor cracking to completely blowing the entire tree into splinters.
Summer Limb Drop is largely not understood, but a condition where healthy appearing limbs seem to fall for no apparent reason. The fact that your limbs have "hollow center full of ants and moist, brown, decayed material", indicate that unhealthy limbs are being shed, which is perfectly normal and even expected for very mature trees. This can be reduced by routine crown inspections, crown cleaning (pruning), and cabling.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Photos of lightning strike tree damage:


1

2

3

4

Splinters


Sometimes it even buck the tree into firewood !