To trim or cut down old water oak with large mistletoe infestation

[DavidB'82]

I have an old water oak (my wife has lived in this house for nearly 30 years and the tree was fully grown and aged already when they moved in) that has a large mistletoe infestation. Large branches fall out of it all the time and my children often play underneath the canopy. It is approximately 10-12 yards from the house and the canopy stretches over top the house and I often have to get up on the roof to trim branches back away from the roof.

Should I have it trimmed back and try to rid it of the mistletoe or should I have it cut down completely. If you think I should have it cut down, do you think I should have the stump ground as well since it sit right on the edge of the drainage ditch?

 

[3000 FPS]

The infestation looks pretty bad. What is the health of the tree other then the mistletoe.
Plus that is a rather personal decision. if you feel the tree is a hazard to your home and children then I would take it out.

 

[DavidB'82]

I wouldn't have a clue how to tell. Which is why I included multiple pictures.

 

[sb47]

I took down a 50 year old water oak in front of my house just because of the safety issues fron all the big limbs that would fall out. It's not worth the risk of big limbs that could damage cars or hurt people if it happens when they are under the tree. I replaced it with a live oak because they dont shed limbs like water oaks do.

 

[GeeVee]

It appears almost certainly that tree has a significant hollow trunk. For safety and security that close to my house, it would be coming down.

 

[Dave1960_Gorge]

I have an old water oak (my wife has lived in this house for nearly 30 years and the tree was fully grown and aged already when they moved in) that has a large mistletoe infestation. Large branches fall out of it all the time and my children often play underneath the canopy. It is approximately 10-12 yards from the house and the canopy stretches over top the house and I often have to get up on the roof to trim branches back away from the roof.

Should I have it trimmed back and try to rid it of the mistletoe or should I have it cut down completely. If you think I should have it cut down, do you think I should have the stump ground as well since it sit right on the edge of the drainage ditch?

At the least I would check it for decay. Looks like the roots have been disturbed by the road cut in the background as well. You can have a pro do it or try it yourself: sound the tree with a rubber mallet, as well as drill it with a 1/8 in. by 10 or 12 in. drill bit. Takes some practice, but you can distinguish sound wood from partially decayed to airspace that way. Gonna have to climb the tree or use a ladder to assess decay in the area of the large limb forks. Also check out the roots on the road side and see if they are cut and decayed. Still going to be a judgement call; the way tree risk assessment goes, the overall risk (and decision to remove or not) depends on the failure risk as well as the targets and consequence of them being hit with the size piece likely to fail (ISA TRAQ approach).

The amount of sound wood has to be assessed in the context of the inherent strength of the water oak wood, any other defects, and the load on the portion of the tree with decay. Could be there is decay around the base of some large limbs; those could be removed to get some more years out of the tree, but the decay will likely then accelerate. Long green limbs without much taper and the added weight of the mistletoe will also be more likely to break under wind or ice load.

Based on the pics, I would suggest that a large branch could break, and a larger piece if there is decay at the attachment.

I have heard you can cut off the mistletoe and wrap the branches in black plastic to prevent it from re-growing and eventually kill it. Sounds like a lot of work to do that, though, and looks like the infestation is on every branch!

 

[DavidB'82]

At the least I would check it for decay. Looks like the roots have been disturbed by the road cut in the background as well. You can have a pro do it or try it yourself: sound the tree with a rubber mallet, as well as drill it with a 1/8 in. by 10 or 12 in. drill bit. Takes some practice, but you can distinguish sound wood from partially decayed to airspace that way. Gonna have to climb the tree or use a ladder to assess decay in the area of the large limb forks. Also check out the roots on the road side and see if they are cut and decayed. Still going to be a judgement call; the way tree risk assessment goes, the overall risk (and decision to remove or not) depends on the failure risk as well as the targets and consequence of them being hit with the size piece likely to fail (ISA TRAQ approach).

The amount of sound wood has to be assessed in the context of the inherent strength of the water oak wood, any other defects, and the load on the portion of the tree with decay. Could be there is decay around the base of some large limbs; those could be removed to get some more years out of the tree, but the decay will likely then accelerate. Long green limbs without much taper and the added weight of the mistletoe will also be more likely to break under wind or ice load.

Based on the pics, I would suggest that a large branch could break, and a larger piece if there is decay at the attachment.

I have heard you can cut off the mistletoe and wrap the branches in black plastic to prevent it from re-growing and eventually kill it. Sounds like a lot of work to do that, though, and looks like the infestation is on every branch!

Thank you for your input. I have decided to take this down.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Mistletoe is a devastating parasite, very draining to tree from inside out.
Can take all food from branch to dilapidating , and go from proud to virtually rotting off from inside out like, until inverts and wilts off.
Wood/bark has particular look and puffiness at some stages as mistletoe disrupts biology like a cancer.
.
Super survivor that grows back if shaved,mistletoe grows it's 'roots' far under bark;
amputation 2ft. back towards tree roots is the common prescription to just not have it come back.
Critters eat the berries and spread the mistletoe's own superglue that tacks the seeds from the berries as well. So high chance of staying where lands.
This might have even self inoculated over years starting from bird droppings flying overhead in just top of tree.
Thin bark trees easier to pierce and drain.
Hardwood and softwood mistletoe varieties.
Can devastate whole areas of pine lumber harvest.
Legend has they used to clear cut to get ahead of, but L-earned to leave those that seemed resistant to hopefully pass on that trait.



Removal is wise, especially if close targets.
Tree is probably devastated and proven susceptible.
Would save money on the stump grind, and allow it to continue to bind bank.