The homeowner who asked me to save his 80 year old oak

I was out on a job in a neighborhood near the old part of town, just doing a routine assessment for storm damage. A guy comes running out in his bathrobe, coffee mug in hand, and asks me to come look at his backyard tree. It was this massive live oak that probably saw the Civil War go by, but it had a huge crack running down the main trunk and some dying limbs. He told me his grandpa planted it when he bought the house in 1948, and he'd do anything to keep it standing. I spent 20 minutes explaining that it was a safety hazard and really needed to come down, but we could maybe try some heavy cabling and pruning to buy it a few more years. He looked so relieved, like I just gave him good news about a sick family member. Ended up cutting out about 30% of the crown and installing three steel cables up high. That was two years ago and the tree is still alive, though I check on it every spring. Anybody else ever have a customer get emotional over a tree like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

river_fox1821d ago

That whole thing about trees being like family hits harder than people expect. Had a lady once who cried for a solid ten minutes when I told her the old maple in her front yard had root rot and wouldn't survive another winter. She kept saying it was the only thing left from when her kids were little. Ended up planting a new sapling in the same spot after we took the old one down, and she asked if I'd come check on it every month or so. Still do, actually. It's not a bad gig, just takes a bit of patience and a lot of not being weird about someone being attached to a plant.

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anna_craig21d ago

Making a little ceremony out of planting the new one right there helped that lady start fresh.