Good afternoon, Arborists! I'm in NW Montana, and we just had a massive wind storm rip through. It took this big side chunk out of our largest pine in the back yard that stands at 50-60 feet. I'm looking for insight on whether or not the tree will recover. There's still a fair amount of tree above the wound that, if it were to split there, would cause massive damage to our home. I've attached pictures of the fallen limb, a closeup of where it split off of the tree, a photo showing where it used to be on the tree, and another of the tree and limb in the same shot. What do you think? It's our favorite tree on the property, so I'd hate to lose it, but I've got a feeling that wound might not do well as we enter winter.
by PONETHEPOON
5 Comments
Congratulations! Your tree is now much less of a hazard than it was before that windstorm came through.
Your tree is a spruce (not a pine, though they are closely related) and had what we call a “codominate leader”. Spruce trees are genetically programmed to grow in a pyramid shape with a single point, but sometimes the point gets injured and the tree will attempt to grow multiple new points. These multiple trunks all grow upwards and as the trunk thickens, bark gets stuck between the trunks. This trapped bark prevents the wood of the trunks from fusing together, and the trunk is often attached to the rest of the tree by a narrow band of wood. This makes the new trident-shaped tip of the tree weaker than the original pyramid-tip created by having only one trunk.
Now, you were fortunate that your tree was able to resume dominance in the main trunk instead of the two trunks remaining tied for dominance. The weakly attached smaller trunk broke off rather cleanly, and managed to avoid damaging your power line in the process. The remaining tree looks to have good structure and should not be a concern. Since the amount of leaf area on the broken limb is less than 25% of the tree’s total leaf area, the tree shouldn’t struggle with recovering from this damage.
It’s toast, saw it over!!
You need to have someone assess this in person. It might be fine, but depending on the amount of decay in that wound, it may still be a significant hazard. It is absolutely not the case that this tree is “safer” than before the windstorm.
I would also consider the potential consequences of another failure. The targets (house, power lines, etc..) determine the hazard, not just the condition of the tree.
Even if this tree isn’t an immediate hazard, it will never compartmentalize that wound, and it will eventually decay and another failure will occur. If you’re lucky, that failure might be 20 years or more down the road, but if you aren’t, it could be the next windstorm.
You need someone qualified to assess this in person before making any decisions. If you’re in the Missoula area, I’d recommend Mountain Tree Company.
Provided nothing was damaged on your property and you the means to clean this up yourself you just saved $200-1500 depending on your locale.
Blue spruce in western Montana are highly susceptible to a terminal weevil. The weevil kills the leader and you end up with multiple tops. See it all over the place. I always tell people spruce is a good “out there” tree, best planted out away from anything you don’t want to get hit by a falling tree. They also have shallow roots making them susceptible to blowing over.
I second the advice to have someone look at your tree in person. Bottom line is it’s comprised and you may be better off having it taken down and plant a species more suitable for the site.