Poinciana split... HELP!

laurenneilen

Hi There,

We have a very old and large (beautiful) poinciana tree that has always looked healthy and thriving. Last week I woke to half the tree down...where the trunk splits into a fork (excuse the novice terms), the left side of the fork has completely broken off. When we looked into the truck it looks rotten and there were 3 HUGE white soft bugs...They looked like GIANT (2-3 inches long) moths that havnt hatched properly yet. What are these? Is there any chance of saving our tree. It would be devastating to lose it now. It is nearly 15 years old! My husband took some weight off so the other half wouldnt fall but I dont know what to do.

I have also contacted a tree surgeon to come out hopefully next week, just wasnt sure if you can fix tree rot if its is irrepairable.

Thanks, Lauren

Eric Frei

I'd say the bugs are grubs, could be the larvae of any type of moth to beetle etc, usually they live in soil so the tree is well and truly rotten .... and poincianas rot easily.

Pictures please.

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Garry Brockley

Thats a very young tree to fail due to rot, they are usually 30 to 40+ by the time they get to that stage.

like Eric says if you could post pics it would greatly help.

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laurenneilen

OK not sure whats going on, my replies arnt coming up so I apologise if this is repeated 3 times for you all. My husband has just corrected me, he thinks the tree would be closer to 25-30 years - We have only had the house 18 months. I cant figure out how to insert pics with URL so I have attached to show rot, size and angle of tree.

Thanks for your help. Appreciate it.

Attached Thumbnails

       

Eric Frei

Nasty!

And knowing poincianas that is only going to rot more and deeper into the root crown.

As with everything there is lots of opinions and ways to go forward, you could reduce the rest of the canopy to lighten it up, perhaps even prop it and of course remove the tree and start again.

Appears there was an open wound on the trunk of the tree below the leader that failed (I see rams horns), likely the rot has been there a long while and spreading until there was insufficient sound wood to take the load .... and that is what might happen to the remaining side.

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