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Trees - Why so many are Falling
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Each year, more of the larger trees (24” diameter or larger) in our landscape have come crashing down and in many cases, have caused considerable property damage to the home or neighbors home and other property. Story/Reports are written or taped by local TV News Departments showing or telling about the fallen tree and how this damage was caused by high winds. An Associated Press article recently reported “Old and diseased trees are especially vulnerable to thigh winds and flooding, but even the healthiest trees can come crashing down”. The first part of that statement is very true; the 2’nd part is not. Healthy trees, even under tornadic conditions will not have the entire trunk pulled out of the ground. Branches might get ripped and twisted off, but the trunk remains perpendicular to the ground.
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The real culprit causing structural weakness to our larger trees is the last 15 to 20 growing seasons of very wet springs and drought conditions in the summer and fall of those same seasons that causes the break down of a tree’s anchoring device – the roots. The roots on happy, healthy trees grow a minimum of 25% beyond the bottom drip line of said tree anchoring and keeping the tree stable even under the worst weather conditions. Many homeowners, unfortunately, are under the mis-understanding that the older the tree, the better it’s able to care for itself. It’s NOT. Older trees are like older people, we should have ourselves and our trees checked on a regular basis to check on our health condition as well as our larger trees. There are some very qualified certified Arborists, (tree doctors) ready to give your trees a check-up. They can tell the difference between a healthy tree VS a tree under severe stress. It’s much better to health check your trees now than to view the tree on the TV News lying across the roof of your home or your neighbors. Next time you see a fallen tree on the News, note that there won’t be any anchor roots attached to the fallen trunk. Common sense should tell us all that if it were the fault of heavy winds, all the other trees on your street should be on the ground too. Some great certified Arborists to choose from include these that I highly recommend.
Stang Certified Tree Care 513-936-9777 Madison Tree Care 513-576-6391 Acme Tree Care 513-574-1234 Bartlett Tree Experts 513-577-7400 Davey Tree Care 513-575-1733 One more word of tree caution. The city of Madeira Police is warning residents that the Tree Gypsies from places unknown have shown back up in their city, Indian Hill, Kenwood, and Montgomery. They travel in bands of 5 to 6 offering to do tree work on a door to door basis. They try to distract the homeowner to the outside of their home and one or more take a trip through the house stealing valuables. If they show up at your home, call your local Police. |
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