Issues with a small tree

[qmqmqm]

Hi everyone.

A hole is developing in a small tree where the main trunk becomes 2 branches. The hole becomes a bit bigger each year. It is often filled with dirt.

Also, I see some cracking on the skin.

Do these need treatment? If so, how?

Thank you!

Paul

 

[PJB12]

Hi Qmqmqm,
That's a beautiful tree! I'll bet the birds & squirrels find happy & safe refuge there. I wonder how much CO-2 it takes from the atmosphere every year? I'll bet a lot. (As you can tell, I love trees & plants. They're great gifts!)

Often, with holes like this, the tree will heal itself. As evidenced by the many, many maples we have, the hole scars over.

But two concerns should probably be addressed soon. The first is if the branch will damage anything or injure someone if it falls. The second is if there are ants inside eating the limb.

I don't know a certain solution, but perhaps it's wise to hire at least two arborists to check the tree. It may be quite saveable if the problem is addressed. I mentioned two because you can evaluate what they suggest. I also suggest, respectfully, that the arborists are not from a tree cutting service. They have incentive to cut the tree. I did this 30 some years ago for a similar problem and was told by 3 that the tree had to go. The tree is fine, tall and healthy today.

A good place to find out some solutions that you can do yourself might be GardeningForums.com There are a lot of knowledgeable and helpful experts there.


What Not To Do-
On line one will find lots of articles saying to put boric acid around the hole to stop ants from going in and eating the tree from inside. After doing this and making a maple sick, I was told by an arborist not to use boric acid. The tree will take up too much boron.

Good Luck With The Tree & be sure to post what you find out.
Paul

 

[Sparky617]

The only solution for that tree is honestly a chainsaw cut about 3" above the ground. It is only a matter of time before it succumbs to the rot. It is dying.

 

[bud16415]

I agree with @Sparky17.



It looks like a nice tree that has developed some serious problems over the year and looks like it had some serious pruning done at some point already.



For me it is too close to the house first off along with the obvious problem.



If it were mine I would remove it close to the ground and then move away from another 4-6’ and plant something new that won’t get too large.

 

[PJB12]

The only solution for that tree is honestly a chainsaw cut about 3" above the ground. It is only a matter of time before it succumbs to the rot. It is dying.

The photo of the tree reminds me of a year so ago when I had an arm with double compound fractured bones. 3 shattered sections of bones, arm hanging by skin & muscle. Very similar looking to the tree photo.

I sure am glad no one decided to cut me off 3 inches above the ground because it looked drastic!



For the record, I've had worse looking trees that are now fine. This stuff happens with trees.
A couple of my trees self-healed, some needed encouragement in the form of pest control and one needed judicious pruning.

 

[bud16415]

The photo of the tree reminds me of a year so ago when I had an arm with double compound fractured bones. 3 shattered sections of bones, arm hanging by skin & muscle. Very similar looking to the tree photo.

I sure am glad no one decided to cut me off 3 inches above the ground because it looked drastic!



For the record, I've had worse looking trees that are now fine. This stuff happens with trees.
A couple of my trees self-healed, some needed encouragement in the form of pest control and one needed judicious pruning.

I agree and it is always a judgment call. None of us are there to view it first hand nor do we know if the tree has some sentimental value like the owner’s parents planted the tree the day they got married or something like that. If it is just an ornamental tree of some value because it has matured all nursing it along for a few more years will do is get you to waste more time in planting a replacement tree.



I had at my old house a beautiful magnolia tree that was mature 25’ tall right in the front yard. During a winter snow it got overloaded and at the Y in the main trunk split in two. I went out as soon as the snow was off and debated cutting it down. I took a winch and pulled it back together and then drilled a .75” hole thru both of the main limbs and put a long threaded rod with washers and nuts to hold it. It went on to live another 40 years so far and has grown over and around the nuts and the only clue is the rod in between. If someone takes a chainsaw to it someday they will be in for a surprise. So trees can be saved.



Another story is about 10 years ago we lost a child at birth and as part of the coping process I planted an oak tree in our side yard. I planted it 30’ off the road. It was about 6” trunk last summer when the power company hired a tree trimming company to work on the power line trees. We were not at home but when we got home the tree was cut flush to the yard. I thought it was 30 years if ever of causing problems, but the guy doing the trimming saw it as nipping it in the bud. I don’t need to say how the loss of that tree affected both of us. The damage was done and I didn’t have it in me to fight with the power company over it and at most all they would do is give us a new tree and it wasn’t that tree.

 

[PJB12]

Yours is a touching and thought inspiring story, Bud16415. I am so sad to hear of your loss of your child. You & your wife certainly are very strong people! Our prayers of thanks are with your for being great people!

It's interesting that you mentioned the rod through the tree. Just yesterday I was watching that TV show where people with unlimited budgets fix peoples' homes. The landscape guy, Roger, did the same thing with a tree and a threaded rod. I wonder if he learned from you? (Hopefully the chainsaw person will have full gear on. That saw's gonna bounce!)

Only semi-related is something I forgot to say in my earlier too many words posts: For Qmqmqm & anyone else; I learned that it is a very bad idea to cover where a limb was removed or to cover a wound (like in the photo) with concrete, mortar or tar.

The arborist who told me this also said there are on the market actual products for this. She said No Way! No How! (And explained in good detail the science behind sealing such wounds or cuts. Can I remember why? Nope. Age? Yup!)

 

[bud16415]

Yours is a touching and thought inspiring story, Bud16415. I am so sad to hear of your loss of your child. You & your wife certainly are very strong people! Our prayers of thanks are with your for being great people!

It's interesting that you mentioned the rod through the tree. Just yesterday I was watching that TV show where people with unlimited budgets fix peoples' homes. The landscape guy, Roger, did the same thing with a tree and a threaded rod. I wonder if he learned from you? (Hopefully the chainsaw person will have full gear on. That saw's gonna bounce!)

Only semi-related is something I forgot to say in my earlier too many words posts: For Qmqmqm & anyone else; I learned that it is a very bad idea to cover where a limb was removed or to cover a wound (like in the photo) with concrete, mortar or tar.

The arborist who told me this also said there are on the market actual products for this. She said No Way! No How! (And explained in good detail the science behind sealing such wounds or cuts. Can I remember why? Nope. Age? Yup!)

Thanks for the kind words it means a lot and something I seldom talked about.



As a kid my grandfather my mothers father and she grew up in the depression as she was born in 1918. They call that the greatest generation but there were some pretty great people in the generation before them as well. They got thru the depression by moving to the country and living in a home they just found and claimed it as their own. And lived off the land. They ate what my grandfather could grow or find growing in the woods and whatever animals he could trap or hunt. Mostly rabbits and groundhogs. He learned everything by doing and by the time I came along he was pretty old and passed a little of it to me. He by then owned a home and had every square inch planted with something. I remember a big apple tree in the front yard that had about 6 kinds of apples and several varieties of pears growing from it all done with grafting he taught himself how to do. He had some black dope and waxes he would use to heal the wounds. I remember painting where he cut limbs as well. Later I found out like you said they do better left alone. My dad taught me to cut a limb flush and now they say no leave the nub.



Where I learned the rod trick I don’t remember, but I remember my dad fixing lots of things with a splint and some screws. We didn’t throw anything out when I was a kid that could be patched somehow.



I fear a lot is being lost generation to generation if we ever had to go backwards in time.

 

[PJB12]

I fear a lot is being lost generation to generation if we ever had to go backwards in time.

You Got That Right!
What? No internet? No cell phone? No plastic? No Uber Eats? We're all gonna die! (I sound like the geezer that I swore I'd never become.)


Both my parents and those of my wife were from the Greatest Generation and were immigrants. Nothing went to waste. Some things from my childhood stick in my mind to this day- Bent nails from (was) scrap lumber were straightened and re-used. Almost dried paint became pipe joint compound. Coal pieces from the bin & arc street light rods were our crayons. School books were purchased used. Clothes were hand me down through all 7 kids. Stuff like that. But we were quite appreciative and happy with what we had!

Boy am I spoiled to live in this day and age.

Oops! None of this has to do with Qmqmqm's tree miseries. Sorry I strayed & stayed off topic.