Saturday, January 20, 2018

Over The Hill; Down The Slope


Your trees will tell you when they have passed maturity and are declining.  This pin oak is just a few years past 40, but it has grown fast, and is now on the downhill side of life.  Major limbs in the middle of the crown are dying and dropping.  This will leave stubs over 4 inches in the stem, so rot will be invading.

This tree also has horned oak gall throughout the crown, which knocks down vigor.  It was really hurting after the 2012 drought, and it has revived admirably, but we are watching it year to year.


It dropped all this wood in the last month.  Your trees will talk to you, if you will listen!  Luckily, the weight on this tree is away from the house.  We will just have to take down the chainlink fence when we decide to put it on the ground.

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