Trunk wound care

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kingspa09

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We have a locust in the front yard of our new home that had some obvious damage sometime ago. There appears to be some rot and I’m not sure the best way to go about mitigating this. I did notice that one of the lawn sprinklers was adjusted in such a way that it was saturating the wound on a daily basis in summer. I have since remedied that. We’re located in Fort Collins Colorado if that helps. Thanks for your assistance!
 

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black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) or honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos)? How big is the wound, and the branch/trunk the wound is on?
 
It's a thornless honey locust...~30 years old and ~40ft tall. The wound is roughly 12-18" x 18-24". The trunk diameter is about 2.5ft. I can get exact measurements later if that helps. Thanks!
 
There is nothing to do about that. My smart alec answer is "If I could stop that from rotting, I could stop decks, fences, and siding from rotting (without pressure treatment - which would kill the tree). If I could stop your deck and fence from rotting, you couldn't afford me.

What you do want to do is: examine the extent of the decay. How much strength loss is associated with that? It looks promising that there is good wound response. Poke around with a small stiff rod (or even a screw driver). How far can you get it in? Tap on the wound and around the wound with a mallet. Does it sound hollow or solid? If had me out to do a risk assessment and that wood feels solid and doesn't sound bad with the mallet, I'm probably going home. If it does sound bad, I want to know more. Perhaps using a resistograph (or sonic tomography if you need to thin the wallet a bit) to detect the extent of the decay.

Next, the other big question: if the tree falls, will it hit anything?
 
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