Amazing 75 ft Sweet gum help!

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cduffer

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Jan 3, 2024
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quitman texas
I need help guys and not sure if it even worth time and money. I have this amazingly beautiful sweet gum tree that has to be 100+ years old. It has fungus, rot at base and bore holes in it. Can it be saved? How can I personally treat it? I’m really wanting to save this beautiful thing!
 

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Another new member hoping for a miracle on a tree that should’ve been removed. That gum appears to be 2 trees. With that rot and the gnarly twisted grain of gum, I’d have a professional licensed and insured tree company take it down.
 
Yeah, it's 2 trees. That's a few too many red flags for my comfort, to be honest. Is it threatening any structures? The long and the short of it is no, nothing can really be done for it. How long could it survive? That's the 100,000 dollar question. At this point you are looking at a risk assessment, but the fungi are indicative of a rotting and decaying root system, and that's never a good sign.
 
If there is nothing beneath it, just keep watching it until it comes down on its own.
Watch from a considerable distance, though. :yes:

I see the corner of a house in one of those pictures, and that suggests that the tree could hit it when it falls in that direction. Get some help and remove it. Damage to the house will cost more than the removal. Then there is always the risk of hitting something irreplaceable, like somebody's kid.

You should understand that many trees with rotten roots like that can remain intact above ground, then just fall over in a good breeze.
 
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