By Rod Hill on 2010-10-14
I did a story with an arborist this week. The point of the story was doing a visual inspection of your trees before this winter. As you know, an active winter is likely, which means a heightened chance of high winds in the valley. I have five fir trees in my yard and two big maples and always think about the possible threat to my property. Here is what I learned:
1. Look at the base of your Douglas Fir trees. Woody mushroom growths are a sign of possible rot developing in the trunk. The mushrooms can also grow at height alone the trunk. Fungus, spawned by rot causes the growth. Call an arborist, they will drill into the tree to discover the extent of disease. The rot can develop over a period of decades, meaning you may or may not have reason for concern.
2. Thinning the branches on your trees, allowing wind to sail through is always a good idea, but should be done by a professional.
3. Split trunks are often a sign of weakness and should be eliminated when the tree is young.
4. A "V" growth of a major branch is often accompanied by a trailing crack in the wood along on the trunk. Do a visual inspection. If you spot a crack, trim growth off of the large branch growing from the V to eliminate weight. A cable for support may be used. You should not simply cut the large branch off, doing so will induce rot into the main tree trunk.
5. Ivy growing around a tree trunk is bad and can introduce bad health to the tree. Cut the ivory at the ground and get rid of it.
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The good news is that healthy large trees, including firs will rarely fail, even with winds of 100 mph. Branches may fall, but a healthy tree will likely survive. The main concern for healthy trees, no matter how large, is a heavy rain event, saturating the soil prior to a wind storm. All trees have a risk of being up-rooted in such an event. But again, the likely hood of a mature trunk snapping in the wind is low. It is true, that an isolated tree is at greater risk than those in the middle of a grove. However, if a tree has been isolated on a hilltop it's entire life, the tree has likely deep-rooted itself and will survive a harsh environment. Remember, our big wind storms produce a south to north blowing wind up the gut of the Willamette valley.
Weekend Storm Ends, Heavy Totals