# Will this be a problem tree?



## Backwoods_BC (Apr 18, 2010)

Hope this is the right section to post this in.. I have a small stand of (western red)cedars beside my house, around 6 of them. The lead tree (windward side) was blown down last year and has left a hole in the canopy. The new lead tree has only branches on the lee side and is unbalanced. The tree(s) themselves are all healthy, and approximatly 60-70 ft tall. Is this tree going to cause me any problems? Should I thin\prune to unload the weight off the lee side? I dont want to cut the whole tree down, but am concerned about it coming down in the next big storm. The tree that already came down hit the house and caused alot of damage, not to mention that my wife and I were standing directly under it when it happened!


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## tree jockey (Apr 21, 2010)

my insurance company tells me that any tree within striking distance to a structure, (house swing set, picnic table ,fence) is a potential problem. It sounds like if you drop crotch the top to make 1 central leader you may be doing the best you can for it. Good Luck


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## tree jockey (Apr 21, 2010)

my insurance company tells me that any tree within striking distance to a structure, (house swing set, picnic table ,fence) is a potential problem. It sounds like if you drop crotch the top to make 1 central leader you may be doing the best you can for it. Good Luck
PS make it short enough that it cant reach the house


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## Backwoods_BC (Apr 22, 2010)

tree jockey said:


> my insurance company tells me that any tree within striking distance to a structure, (house swing set, picnic table ,fence) is a potential problem. It sounds like if you drop crotch the top to make 1 central leader you may be doing the best you can for it. Good Luck
> PS make it short enough that it cant reach the house



Not sure I understand "drop crotch"? Are you meaning to top the tree -to create a crotch from the new growth? I considered that, But if I top it where it would be ideal, the tree will still be unbalanced.The tree is only 20ft away from the house, and the branches dont start until around 25ft up, so topping to make it short enough to not reach the house is not feasable.


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## treeseer (Apr 23, 2010)

why did the first tree fail? if nursery grown odds are there were root defects.

Consider staking.

Can you send pics of the trunk flares of the other trees?


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## Backwoods_BC (Apr 23, 2010)

First tree had a crotch at about 8ft up, an extremely bad windstorm ripped it inhalf\blew it down. It was an intense storm, Lots of trees in the area came down, I would estimate in excess of 150mph winds. I dont think they were nursery trees. I will try to get a picture in the next few days. Thanks for the suggestions so far.


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## tree jockey (Apr 23, 2010)

BW, 
I may have misunderstood the problem. I will be interested in the pics. Dropcrotching is a judicial pruning cut used to prune broken tops back to a growing point that may produce a potential strong central leader in the future. It is also an approved practice to lower the height of a tree that is growing tall out of its bounds. It is not to be compared to topping , which is never recommended because it produces poor branching that will be susceptible to future storm damage. It may be a candidate for a support cable. Are you familiar with this practice? It is a way to increase the stability of weak V-shaped crotches, an anomaly notorious in arborvitaes (white cedars) Waiting on the pics.


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