Tree Surgeon advice please
Discussion
After 2 hours of very heavy snow I heard a massive cracking noise an hour ago, on investigation a huge portion of a very mature Oak tree in my garden has fallen, the early snow lying on it's leaves was obviously too much and very sadly a very large branch (40 feet plus) has fallen in my garden demolishing a fence in the process. I have called a couple of local Tree Surgeon's to take a look in the morning, my first concern is to ensure whats left is safe and to try and dispose of the fallen branch, secondly it is a lovely old tree and I want to try and make sure we can help whats left to survive.
I am sure the "broken portion" is down to the sheer weight of snow tonight given it had not really started to shed it's leaves rather than down to disease, if the fallen branch which is still partially attached is removed it will leave a very large "wound" and secondly the tree might become "unbalanced" given it has lost a very large branch, what should I be looking for the Tree Surgeon to do to help whats left (assuming it's not rotten) to survive?
Your help would be very much appreciated!
I am sure the "broken portion" is down to the sheer weight of snow tonight given it had not really started to shed it's leaves rather than down to disease, if the fallen branch which is still partially attached is removed it will leave a very large "wound" and secondly the tree might become "unbalanced" given it has lost a very large branch, what should I be looking for the Tree Surgeon to do to help whats left (assuming it's not rotten) to survive?
Your help would be very much appreciated!
Stand back, stand back, make way, make way, tree surgeon coming through.....ahhh...this looks like a classic case of tree leprosy. The limbs just fall right off given the slightest excuse. Bit of snow you say? Weighing a few ounces? Its just an excuse, and a poor one at that. The best thing to do here is douse the lower trunk in petrol and set light. Tree leprosy is very contagious and needs to be kept in check.
Echoing Nicks thoughts , trees are hard bas**rds an odd snow shower will not have caused this , a sudden hurricane force wind will especially if its out in leaf , more likely to be diseased internally , I've known tree surgeons able to tap a tree trunk and tell you if its rotten inside.
Cheers NickF we have been here for 8 years and the tree has been outwardly healthy with no obvious sign of disease, the wound left from the fallen branch looks like healthy wood too, I am hoping it is just down to the freak weather tonight and the fact that the tree still has most of its leaves on and the sheer weight of snow was just too much for the branch.
before I found cars, beer & ladies , if I remember correctly 
Because I needed a reason to get round to scanning these old prints anyway.
Cedar tree, Bromham, Beds, I think it was December 1990/January 1991 but I can't remember for sure.
Snow damage to what had been a lovely tree: condemmned on the spot by council tree officer - it was shot through with all kinds of scary splits as well as the more obvious breaks.
Your fearless/foolish (delete as applicable) some-time tree surgeon at work section-felling the small bits - had to switch to a larger saw later:
and a long shot for scale: the crane is there to lift me, not the tree - I didn't want to be tied to anything that badly split, so did the job dangling from the crane hook.
I know, worst 'look at me' post ever...
Cedar tree, Bromham, Beds, I think it was December 1990/January 1991 but I can't remember for sure.
Snow damage to what had been a lovely tree: condemmned on the spot by council tree officer - it was shot through with all kinds of scary splits as well as the more obvious breaks.
Your fearless/foolish (delete as applicable) some-time tree surgeon at work section-felling the small bits - had to switch to a larger saw later:
and a long shot for scale: the crane is there to lift me, not the tree - I didn't want to be tied to anything that badly split, so did the job dangling from the crane hook.
I know, worst 'look at me' post ever...
T5GRF said:
Cheers for the advice all, had a guy round this morning who seems to know what he is talking about the tree is prfectly healthy, sadly it was just the weight of snow. He will remove the damage and then pollard the canopy.
a branch wouldn't normally fail just because of the wieght of snow on an oak,i would say there was probably an underlying reason to it,Also when you say pollarding the rest of the canopy this seems very extreme as there will be nothing left of the canopy.A 25% crown reduction would probably be far a better option.If you have it pollarded then your gonna have 1 ugly looking tree and when/if it re-grows then it will be a very dense ball of leaves blocking out far more light than if it was reduced properlyGassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff