That 40 year old oak I climbed last week should have been taken down 10 years ago

I got a call from a guy in Portland last Tuesday about pruning a big oak in his backyard. Got there and saw this monster 40 inch trunk with a huge cavity on the south side and major dieback in the crown. The homeowner said he wanted a trim to let more light through. I told him straight up that tree was a hazard and needed to come down. He argued with me for 20 minutes about how it had been there since his grandparents built the house in the 60s. I pointed out the fungal conks at the base and the crack running up the main stem. He finally agreed to let me do a full assessment. The root system was rotting out from under it and there was no way that tree was making it through another winter storm. Has anyone else had to fight homeowners about taking down a tree that's clearly past saving?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona_fox5624d ago

Whoa hold up, I'm gonna push back on this one. That tree has been standing for decades and made it through tons of storms before, so why assume this winter is the one that takes it down? Cavities and conks don't automatically mean a tree is a death trap, some oaks live for years with those issues if you just manage the weight and deadwood properly. You could have done a reduction prune to lighten the crown and reduce sail area instead of jumping straight to a removal. Seems like the homeowner's attachment to the tree might actually be worth listening to instead of dismissing it.

noah_rivera5723d ago

Had a buddy who took that exact approach with a big old oak in his yard. Spent a few hundred on pruning and cabling to keep it standing, then a freak ice storm dropped half of it through his neighbor's garage roof the next spring. Your mileage may vary but sometimes a tree's just got a countdown on it that you can't see.