Advice on trimming a Live Oak in North Central Florida

[JivaGo]

Hey folks!

I bought a house about 10 months ago and I'm trying to deal with my trees. I have 15 or so end of life water oaks (few already dead) that I going to cut down. I'll probably hire a local crew with a bucket truck for a one day flat fee. I'll do all the clean up.

I also have a big live oak. I sort of want to keep it, sort of want to get rid of it. It's huge, with a ton of dead wood in the canopy. It hangs over my house and my neighbors. Can't park under it as it drop big presents at random times.

I'm going to bring in an arborist, but it would be good to have some advice prior to getting a couple of quotes.

-Is the tree too big and scary? Should I just take it down? (Kind of expensive and a huge undertaking)
-Should I get the dead wood cut down and some strategic additional cutting?
-Do live oaks respond well to fairly aggressive trimming? Can major sections be cut down and the canopy significantly reduced and lowered?


Thanks.

 

[treeseer]

Yes get the dead wood cut down and some strategic additional pruning.

No, live oaks don't respond well to fairly aggressive trimming/ Why would you want major sections be cut down and the canopy significantly reduced and lowered?

No big structural issues, just a small reduction needed. And don't give up on the water oaks so fast; some may be just one good pruning from being nice assets. I'll be in Daytona Beach in a few weeks...

 

[JivaGo]

I'd want to cut it aggressively because it's a threat to my house and my neighbor's. And my car. But I'll defer to those who know better. If it should be saved with a careful trim, I'll do that.

On the other side of my house are the water oaks. They are tall, hulking monsters... Some are dead, some are inches from it. 3 have rotten cores, 3 others have been hacked by utility co crews. Most are curling ominously over my house. My metal roof has holes in it from large objects falling on it. Every weekend I get a wheelbarrow full of dead branches around my not very big lot. There are 2 or 3 that are fairly young, but they're crazy tall and thin with a small canopy.

I want to start from scratch with mostly fruit and nut trees. Any trees I choose I'll properly care for and keep them trimmed.

 

[treeseer]

. If it should be saved with a careful trim, I'll do that."

Yup.

"On the other side of my house are the water oaks. They are tall, hulking monsters... Some are dead, some are inches from it. 3 have rotten cores, 3 others have been hacked by utility co crews. Most are curling ominously over my house. My metal roof has holes in it from large objects falling on it. Every weekend I get a wheelbarrow full of dead branches around my not very big lot. There are 2 or 3 that are fairly young, but they're crazy tall and thin with a small canopy.

I want to start from scratch with mostly fruit and nut trees. Any trees I choose I'll properly care for and keep them trimmed."

sounds ok; you'r ein pecan country huh?

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Deadwood the Live Oak and have a good arborist look at some possible reduction and pruning (probably a multi-year plan.) That guy was probably there before your house was, and will probably be there long after. The value of having that tree on your property far outweighs any insurance deductible.

 

[HuskStihl]

It would be hard for me to see a nice, mature live oak as anything other than a great asset

 

[MasterBlaster]

That is one nice looking tree!

 

[JivaGo]

It's 18 feet from my neighbor's house. It's also a liability as it's never been trimmed beyond dealing with problems as they arise (as far as I can tell). I'm not well to do, and my insurance isn't the best. It's an expensive no-look, low frills policy, the only one I could get. I'm not sure how well it would cover a neighbor's house and I'm afraid to ask.

To get a better insurance I need to do a ton of work on the house, including the roof. If I replace the roof and a big branch puts another hole in it, I'm wasting my time and money. Need to deal with the tree problem first. Any insurance evaluator would immediately see the 15 huge dead and diseased trees looming over my house and say no thanks. My house is one thing, my neighbors on both sides are another.

So I've always assumed that I would keep the live oak. After this discussion I may also consider keeping 2 or 4 of the other trees on the other side (out of the 15 monsters remaining and the 20 or 3o mostly small ones I've already cut). (I've been digging out stumps for months in the summer heat, it was a jungle.)

But being a Northerner and not a tree person, I don't know much about live oaks. So I though I would ask what the parameters might be.

In New England cities, some trees on the side of the road in densely populated areas would be trimmed to within an inch of their lives. Maples I think, but I'm not sure. They looked like terrible 15' stumps, and I assumed it was the worst thing and a terrible abuse. Yet, in a year or two they'd sprout a zillion branches and in 3 or 4 years they'd look pretty good.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

OK, so get a bid on removing that live oak and re-examine your paradigms.

 

[treeseer]

Are your neighbors worried? The tree isn't a liability just because of location, and tree owners don't pay for damages, unless they were warned by certified letter, AND did nothing about it.

And re the water oaks etc., some experienced advice might be worth paying for.

 

[sb47]

That live oak just looks like it needs some aeration pruning.
You should prune out all the inner limbs that are close to trunk and are not contributing to the growth of the tree.
Those inner limbs are basically suckers and are using up energy.


Water oaks are famous for loosing and dropping limbs through out there life span.
Not a good yard tree, because of the constant clean up.

 

[HuskStihl]

My mowing would go much faster if I didn't have so many water oaks and sweet gums

 

[TheJollyLogger]

That's because you're still using that wussy little Cub Cadet, Jon. You just need to upgrade.

 

[HuskStihl]

That is a serious mower. Mine is much more wimpier

 

[treeseer]

Tree needs inner limbs--only remove the weak ones.

Mowing goes a lot faster if trees are mulched--less grass.