Tree Species more prone to failure

Eric Frei

Got some opinions then list them here along with your experience with them and location.

Here's bit of a kick start.

Source: Special concern - Maintenance - Landscape plants - Edward F. Gilman - UF/IFAS

My personal encounters here in Brisbane would see the following species more prone to failure.

Eucalyptus racemosa - Scribbly gum: Often as they age they are hollow, termites and decay prevalent. This can be throughout the canopy too, I have often cut branches at 50' up perhaps 4" diameter to see the branch 2/3's rotten with decay, dirt, termites. Contorted branch structure whilst aesthetically pleasing results in wind breakages especially if the trees are in urban settings and too well cared for resulting in heavy foliage on drooping branches.

On the habitat front these trees are highly valued, Koala food and have great potential for fauna nesting, seldom resprouting from breakages means more decay and hollows. Just last week pruning a few of these for deadwood and habitat management I didn't cut to target a honking piece of deadwood that was perhaps 6" dia and sticking out 1m, rotting on the end with perhaps a 1" dia hollow and ready to fall. I cut it maybe 0.3m out from target drawing the line on falling deadwood and habitat management ... just as well, 4 sugar gliders just missed the chainsaw. I then cut some other deadwood to plug the hole a little so crows etc couldn't get these guys. In the correct location these are highly valuable habitat trees, let them bust and decay, that's what critters need.

Eucalyptus major & propinqua - Grey gum: When the new bark comes on these trees it's a salmon colour, always makes people wonder why they called it a grey gum. Anyway, in my experience these gums are more likely to break up in storms. whilst their wood is still dense and heavy for some reason they break easier than other ones.

........ so what have you readers got to tell us about?

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newguy18

Thats list is pretty good,i've seen failures from everyone of them,more than once,i've also seen alot of live oak failures,although not as common as water oak failures,i've cut water oaks after a good rain and had many of them literally squirt water as i was cutting.

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Jeff Darby

I've noticed Eucalyptus nicholi fails down here (NSW) during inclement weather.
JayD

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Eric Frei

Salix chilensis; syn. S. humboldtiana -- Pencil willow, now here's a real piece of crap ... light, prone to decay and failure. Most have been eradicated now in Brisbane but they're still around, a weed!

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rbtree

In the Pacific Northwest:

Native trees:

Black cottonwood--shed limbs
Alder--disease prone, short lived
Big leaf maple--failure due to vert wilt, poor trunk structure
Hemlock many root rots, shallow rooted, trunk and root plate failure
Western white pine lots of branch failures

Introduced trees:
weeping willow
lombardy poplar
elm----DED....

more, but time for bed....

Our chapter of the ISA is developing our own tree fauilure database.....

Garry Brockley

England

Fagus sylvatica prone to SLF

Fraxinus Excelsior gets to 45 feet then begins to dismantle itself prone to innontus hisbidis making it liable to failure in storms.

Lombardy poplar prone to lose large sections in storms upright growth pattern and weak unions make it a hazardous tree to climb.

Salix x sepucralis weeping willow drain and foundation damage can be caused by very invasive root system.

Xcupressocyparis leylandii centers split out in strong winds and prone to fall over due to small root system foundation damage can be caused if planted too close to buildings due to the soil drying abilities

Betula pendula relatively inaffective at forming barriers against fungal colonisations hence once young trees get daedaleopsis confragosa this is likely to lead to failure in large trees.

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