Dead Wood: Dead trees and branches are unpredictable and can break and fall at any time. Dead wood is often dry and brittle and cannot bend in the wind like a living tree or branch. Even smaller branches, falling from high in the tree, can cause serious personal injury.

Cracks: A crack is a deep split through the bark, extending into the wood of the tree. Cracks are extremely dangerous because they indicate that the tree is already failing.

Weak Branch Unions: Weak branch unions are places where branches are not strongly attached to the tree. A weak union occurs when two or more branches grow so closely together that bark grows between the branches
and inside the union. This ingrown bark does not have the structural strength of wood and the union can become very weak and eventually fail.

Decay: Decaying trees are prone to failure, but the presence of decay alone does not necessarily mean failure. Still, advanced decay (soft, crumbly wood with a cavity) is serious. Evaluating the safety of a decaying tree is usually best left to trained arborists.

Canker: A canker is a localized area on a stem or branch of a tree, where bark is sunken or missing. Cankers are caused by wounding or disease. The presence of a large canker increases the chance of the stem or branch breaking near the canker.

Root Problems: Trees with root problems may blow over in windstorms or even fall from the weight of the tree’s leaves in summer.

Poor tree form: Trees with strange shapes are interesting to look at, but may be structurally defective. Take action immediately if a tree leans excessively or a large branch is out of proportion with the rest of the crown.

Your TreeProfessional.com certified arborist should be consulted when undertaking any corrective action. When in doubt about how much risk a defective tree poses, or how to best treat it, just call for a free consultation.

888-449-tree
bigtreeremoval@gmail.com