This post is going to highlight the importance of branch unions and healthy structure of trees as it pertains to risk and failure. This tree had a massive failure because of wind load and a branch union that is undesirable and weak. Here we have an example of a cod0minant union with included bark. This example is why tree selection and proper pruning practices are so important. If the structure of this tree was addressed earlier on with proper pruning, its safe to say the likelihood of this failure would have been substantially less. The client was saddened by the failure and loss of canopy in their green space, and asked what their options for maintaining the tree and space were.
After discussing options with the client, we decided to clean up the broken section of this tree and to monitor the wound caused by the failure. We also talked about planting one or two new trees to eventually replace the tree that failed. In my opinion, the tree will not be able to properly compartmentalize the wound and eventually the decay will become advanced enough to cause structural failure at the base of the tree. We recommended waiting for a year or two to try to let the tree recover before coming back to address any other structural issues and to prune accordingly.
Unfortunately, it is my opinion that this tree will eventually need to be removed. The clients were happy that they could still have some of their green space for a little while longer until some younger trees can be established. Also, they got pretty lucky with the way that it was resting on the fence, there was practically no damage to it. We will follow up with some pruning and a check on the decay in a year or two.
