Just a couple days ago, we had some snow fall of around 5 inches here in the east coast. Unfortunately our tree in the front lawn was severely damaged. I still don't know exactly how this happened, because none of our neighbors' tree were damaged like ours. I believe the tree is a Dogwood. The place that the tree split looks strange. Could it be a a disease? Is it possible to save the tree, or is the damage too severe? I have attached pictures below. Thanks for any advice.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/24695/3243/photo_%281%29.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/24695/3243/photo_%282%29.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/24695/3243/photo_%283%29.JPG)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/24695/3243/photo_%284%29.JPG)
Dogwood? That's a pretty nasty break, right in the crotch. It took out near half the canopy, so even if it does survive, I don't think it will last long or that the tree will ever be the same.
I'd say it's pretty well gone. Looks like the crotch had some rot in it, may have been a cause.
By the way, welcome to the forum, manhattan!
That's a Callery Pear, aka Bradford Pear.
They are known for that (called included bark), cut it down an replace it with an actual Dogwood. Callery Pears are cheap, and seem to be the most overlly planted tree by landscrapers. Garbage tree.
Kousa Dogwoods are great, white flower, pest resistant, and red edible fruit in fall.
Where in the northeast are you? I'm an arborist out of CT.
An uncle of mine had a bradford pear in his yard, the same thing happened. It had a "trunk" about 3' long. I sawed some short boards for him, the wood was actually very hard and heavy.
brendonv is right it had a included bark problem witch makes for a week crotch union, your best bet would be to cut it down and replace with a nice dogwood. :)
Bradford pear, that's Pyrus crappytreeus right?
Bradford pears dont last long here either. But for some cheapo reason they are planted in every ones yard, until the ice comes to ruin the party.
Yeah, not a dogwood. Just looking at the form and branching says it is something else.
Same thing in the south, haven't seen one in AZ as of yet but I bet we have some around. If you look in the background you'll see another one (Bradford) at the next house. I was doing a tree planting job in AR back in the late 90's and went with the more exotics for towns. After I left, the town put in additional sidewalks and planted all Bradfords. They are cheap, they grow well while young, but they don't like ice and they have a "fire blight canker" that tears them up as they age. They do have a showy white bloom in spring - that's what folks are after......
Crabbe apple trees are much more resilient up here and colorful blooms and widely planted as well as basswood (non native ones are not very frost hardy) and Norway maple (this species is bad for cankers and splits). Only recently have I noticed towns plant red oaks, in the last 10 years, they are very hardy. Some planners try to bring the south to the north in their selection of trees, it don't work. Money wasted.
The BPs here at least in the northeast are mostly gone due to the ice storm in '09. I only know of one yard that still has big ones
and they got a big time hair cut that fall. The ones that didn't fall to the ice were so damaged they may as well have fell.
Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I had no idea it was a Bradford Pear. The tree's flowers have a bad odor in the spring, so I always assumed it was a dogwood. I realize replacing it is the best option, but do you thing its possible to save it? I really don't want to remove it. Is there any way to rescue the tree or is the damage too severe? Also, what is the dark area in the split? Is that rot or what? Thanks again for any help!
The dark area is the trees reaction to decay, and included bark. Google it.
The tree should be a stump. Don't waste money on it, or let anyone tell you to. The two leaders that are left have the same poor structure, and the fact the wound on the tree will decay. Since half of the tree split, the tree is going to respond by sending out suckers come spring. All these new branches are going to be weekly attatched, and even MORE prone to tearing than the tree was originally.
Remove and replace.
When you do cut it down, put in a Dogwood to replace it. Really pretty in the spring and the birds will eat the berries if the ground gets covered by snow.
Yep.
Look up Kousa Dogwood (Cornus kousa). Beautiful tree. Although native to the Northeast, dont fall for a Cornus florida. They get powdery mildew and don't thrive in full sun like your location.
Alternate leaf dogwood in flower.
(https://forestryforum.com/images/03_21_04/dogwood-001.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/images/03_21_04/dogwood-003.jpg)
Just a wild shrub. The road crew knocked it down in 2006. I found out it's fairly dense wood according to some folks on the forum. I should have salvaged the stem for a cane or walking stick or something.
Although my opinion would be complete removal also, if you wanna try a save it, put something on the split to keep the bugs out. There are commercial products made for the purpose. Google it and good luck
I recommend removal also. I fully agree with Brendonv's analysis.
Quote from: CX3 on January 31, 2011, 04:49:58 PM
Although my opinion would be complete removal also, if you wanna try a save it, put something on the split to keep the bugs out. There are commercial products made for the purpose. Google it and good luck
If you are going to leave it, I would recommend putting nothing on the wound. That will just inhibit the trees possibility of compartmentalizing the wound.
CODIT is what the recovery processes is called. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartmentalization_of_decay_in_trees
Yeah, as Reddog said. Those commercial products work against the trees ability to compartmentalize the wound. Trees grow wood on the outside, they aren't like animals able to heal within.
I see more folks have studied Shigo..........
Everyone should. ;D