This 7 1/2" DBH American turkey oak (Q. laevis) is in a group of two in my yard. Its twin (not pictured, though you can see a broken limb in the upper trunk pic) drops limbs and will be taken out.
Previous owners built a detached carport and reclaimed asphalt aggregate driveway ~3' from the base of these trees, then nailed boards to them to make a flower bed, building up the intermediate space 6-8" above the crown. They're about 20' from a structure opposite the carport.
The one that doesn't drop limbs is a bit spindly. It's been poorly pruned in past. It has limb tearouts from (I assume) storm damage ~15' up on both sides of the tree, worst pictured, and damage at the base of the trunk on the same side. Canopy in top third (standard pruning practice 'round these parts
) looks pretty healthy.
These are the only turkey oaks in the yard and I'd don't really want to lose them both. They've both made it through a few recent hurricanes. Think it's worth keeping up?
As a side note, this isn't the only tree I have with significant scars at the root crown like this. Any idea what might be causing that? I'd normally say string trimmer, but we're pretty rural and they're a bit on the big side for that.
Previous owners built a detached carport and reclaimed asphalt aggregate driveway ~3' from the base of these trees, then nailed boards to them to make a flower bed, building up the intermediate space 6-8" above the crown. They're about 20' from a structure opposite the carport.
The one that doesn't drop limbs is a bit spindly. It's been poorly pruned in past. It has limb tearouts from (I assume) storm damage ~15' up on both sides of the tree, worst pictured, and damage at the base of the trunk on the same side. Canopy in top third (standard pruning practice 'round these parts
) looks pretty healthy.These are the only turkey oaks in the yard and I'd don't really want to lose them both. They've both made it through a few recent hurricanes. Think it's worth keeping up?
As a side note, this isn't the only tree I have with significant scars at the root crown like this. Any idea what might be causing that? I'd normally say string trimmer, but we're pretty rural and they're a bit on the big side for that.
