Damaged Live Oak?

LKK

The live oaks in our little suburban yard seriously needed some care. One large branch fell down, and several others were obviously dead up there. The guy who came out and did the job says basically one-half of this particular tree needs to come down. On the first picture, it's the entire left side of the fork that he's talking about. He says it has some damage and is infested with termites and could fall down on its own. Beyond the "damaged" area, the branch looks nice and vigorous. Good leaves, etc. If this were in a field all alone, I'd leave it be, but this tree is within striking distance of 3 separate houses, and notice my kid's play equipment right under that huge limb. 'Nuf said! If it's a safety concern, it's gone. However, I'm concerned that taking so much of the tree will cause it to be unbalanced and unstable and that the entire tree could potentially topple over as a result. The tree guy says live oaks are strong that that this isn't a cause for concern. I want the tree to stay up, of course, but don't want to have to worry about it falling down on something/one.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Should the limb come down? Can the tree recover from that? Sorry about the shadowy pics; if it's a problem, let me know, and I can post some more later.




He says the entire left fork needs to come down.




To me, the left limb looks "weird" about 3 feet up from the fork. I suppose you guys can characterize what's going on? You can see where a branch has already snapped off here.



This is from another angle. The damaged limb is now on the right.

Attached Thumbnails

         

Alex Metzler

we love our trees but sometimes we gotta take them out before they take us, it never hurts to get another (hands on) opinion, btw you say your concerned about the left lead having decay and the severity of it, but after subordinating it what are you left with?, does the other lead have structural integrity? look @ the way it makes a 45 degree!?

LKK

The tree has definitely grown into a wonky shape!

So I should be worried about the structural integrity of the "healthy" side because of the ~45 degree angle it's growing at? That's not even something I had considered before, nor did the tree service guy mention that...?

LKK

Also, can someone shed some light on what's going on with the "damaged" limb? Does it appear that the limb is actually cracked, or did it just grow that way? (What I'm seeing as a crack is most visible in the 4th photo.) And if it just grew that way, is it still structurally unsound? Is this an example of a codominant leader?

Jeroen Shiran

It looks like the branch had a large lateral branch rip out, from where you can see some left over (dead) wood, all the way down to the bottom of your crack. This "crack" (it's not a crack as defined by an arborist though) is the subsequent wound which the tree is slowly closing. The new wood tissue around the wound (the edges of your crack) is usually signifcantly stronger then the wood in the trunk. However, this does not mean the tree isn't compromised.

The main problem here is decay and the amount present. Knowing which fungi is in there would help with a sound judgment. It is quite a large wound and if children are playing underneath it is a problem. Making a cut this big will impact the structural strenghth of the healthy side and open it up to decay. Subordination might be a better option, but not knowing the extent of the problem it is hard to say what is the right course of action.

Obviously I can't tell you what to do myself. If you really care about the tree get a second opinion from an ISA certified arborist, at least.

Brent Ferris

If you can reach the limb with the crack and the decay, probe the decay and see how deep the decay and the crack extend relative to the thickness of the limb.

If the depth is only 10%, you are prob ok; if it is more like up to 30% depth, it would depend on how much of a gambler you are, and if the decay has penetrated 50% or more, take it down while you can still control the fall. The picture suggests more than 10% penetration, and given the playset, from a safety perspective, remove at least the one limb. Whether the whole tree should go? Psychologically, yes. Structurally, probably. IF it is the only tree in the yard, and the only shade, perhaps leave it up, while you establish another tree, to replace this one.