My neighborhood lost a big oak tree last month because of bad storm prep

There's this huge oak on Elm Street in my town, near the creek. Last month during a mild storm, it just dropped a massive limb through someone's roof. I talked to the arborist who came by and he said the tree had decay for years but nobody trimmed it because they thought it'd be fine. Has anyone else noticed more neighborhood trees failing because people don't think about climate change making storms worse?

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patriciacarr2mo ago

Oh man, I've seen that exact thing happen way too many times. The problem is people assume old trees are strong trees, but decay can hide for years inside a healthy-looking trunk. I've had two big maples come down in my yard just because they looked fine from the outside but were hollow inside from old wounds. You really need a certified arborist to check for things like cracks near the base or mushrooms growing on the trunk, those are dead giveaways. Mulching around the base too deep can also cause rot near the soil line, so keep the root flare exposed. For that oak on Elm Street, sounds like the limb failure was from included bark in a tight crotch, which is super weak in wind.

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adam_hernandez2mo ago

Cleared out all the loose bark and painted the wound with a sealer, that stopped the rot from spreading.

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