How To Spot And Fix Dangerous Trees In Your Yard
Posted on: 10 June 2015
It's every homeowner's nightmare – the large, healthy tree is blown over or uprooted during a windstorm, causing major damage to the home and to those living inside. Fortunately, it's a concern that you can easily put to rest with a combination of regular care and inspections, along with timely tree service.
Check For and Prevent Mechanical Damage
Mechanical damage is usually caused by lawn equipment, including lawnmowers and weed trimmers, hitting or rubbing against the tree trunk. You need to check the trunks of your trees after working in the yard each time for signs of trunk damage. If damage occurs and is left untreated, fungus can invade the heartwood of your tree. Certain types of fungus result in a rotten interior trunk. Although the tree looks healthy from the outside, the interior is rotten and it's now more prone to falling over.
Treating damage promptly with a fungicidal tree ointment can prevent rot issues. Or, prevent damage completely by installing a mulch buffer around tree trunks. This way, grass and weeds won't grow close to the tree so you won't need to use mowers and trimmer by the trunk.
Look for a Lean
Most tree trunks aren't perfectly straight, but there are times when a leaning trunk is a sign of trouble. If the tree develops a severe lean it didn't have previously, it's time to take action. Also, it's time to do something if you have a tree that has always leaned, but but begins to have cracked soil or exposed roots.
A tree service can assess the tree to see if it can be saved. For those worth saving, a combination of pruning techniques to adjust the weight distribution, along with tree braces, is often sufficient to solve the problem.
Don't Do the Splits
Sometimes overlooked, multi-trunked trees are another danger in the home landscape. The multiple trunks don't help distribute the weight or balance the tree. Instead, they make the tree more prone to splitting and dropping one of the trunks.
The best solution is to make sure young trees are pruned correctly so they only develop one strong central trunk. Failing this, an arborist or tree service provider can selectively prune the tree to remove weaker trunks and balance the branches. Then, they can brace and stabilize the remaining trunks so they won't split any further.
Proper care, including watering, fertilizing, and pruning, also helps keep your trees strong and upright. Different trees require different care, so it's a good idea to meet with a tree service, like Northwest Residential Arborist And Excavating, in your area to find out the local care requirements.
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