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Arborists, Lumberjacks, Tree Surgeons
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Will this tree Die.. Oak, hit by Lightning. As much as I can tell only bark got blown off. Will it make it or do I need to fire up the Chainsaw?
Comments
Just as human beings have a protective outer layer all over their bodies known as skin, so do trees have a protective outer layer called bark. Damage to the bark can prove fatal to the tree. If someone cut the bark, around a tree to the wood beneath the flow of food would be disrupted and the tree will starve to death.
Many kinds of trees can be immediately recognized by their distinctive bark. Variations in markings, colour and texture denote not only the type of tree, but even the age of the tree within that particular species.
The bark of a young tree and that on young parts of a mature tree are quite thin, but the bark of an older tree is thick and rough. For instance the bark of the giant and ancient west-coast Douglas-fir tree, may be more than a foot thick.
Every tree has two layers of bark, an inner layer and an outer layer. The inner bark, through which food passes up and down he trunk and along the branches, is soft and moist. The outer bark is hard and firm. The hardness and thickness of the bark protects the tree from injury and from the elements.
The older the tree, the thicker the bark grows. This is because each year a layer of inner bark hardens and becomes part of the outer bark. In this way the outer bark builds off, even though some of it will eventually fall off the tree in the form of scales.
PJ
If it looses it's leaves during the summer it's a good sign it's cooked.Seems like whenever a long-leaf pine here in Florida gets hit it dies very quickly,could be diferent with disiduous(sp) trees.That tree's worth alot more as lumber than it is Cord-wood.
Jeff
I was reading an agricultural magazine several years ago and they were saying there are trees worth thousands of dollars just standing there on unoccupied and unused farmsteads in the Mid-west. An old American Walnut is worth big bucks.[:)][:)][:)][:)][:D][:D][:D]
The lightening entered the cambrian layer/sapwood (because that's where the water is) just under the outer bark and ran in a straight line directly to ground. Tarring the wound might prevent the entrance of disease or insects therein, but, as other posters have noted, I've seen lots of them with scars that made it just fine out in the woods.
C&P:
Sapwood
This is newly formed wood that surrounds the heartwood. It is lighter in colour and softer than the heartwood. Water and dissolved minerals are conducted to the leaves through the cells of the sapwood. The sapwood gradually matures and hardens into heartwood as the tree grows. Sapwood is less resilient to decay and insect attack.
Cambium Layer
Surrounding the sapwood is a layer of cells, just under the inner bark. This is where the growth of the tree takes place through the division of cells. The cambium layer creates new sapwood on the inside of the previous years growth and new inner bark on the outside.
Bark (or Cortex) - Outer Bark
This is the rough corky layer on the outside of the tree. It acts as a layer of protection against the cold, extreme heat or insect attack.
Inner Bark (Phloem or Bast)
On the inside of the outer bark is a thin green layer that carries the plant food or sap from the leaves to the cambrian layer throughout the tree. This is the inner bark.
There is usually more than one person in wooded areas with a portable saw of one type or the other that will saw red oak, ash and maple (of lumber type species) up on the splits. Some will buy the logs and some will saw on location and buy the lumber and also deal on the slab and slash (left-overs) that qualify for firewood. Some guys will set up for one tree if it's good enough, some won't but would if you had a couple more to group with it.
Call well established cabinet and furniture makers in your area first to locate these sawyers.
All of the cells in the cambium layer have been fried by lightning. The lightning strike will also be a nice place for the insects to gather sugers for food. They will definitly introduce pathogens that will also accelerate death. It might leaf out next year but it should be dead within 2 years. Looks like you are going to have some firewood on your hands.
I am a forester and run a logging business in upstate NY. That tree is dead........it just does not know it yet.
All of the cells in the cambium layer have been fried by lightning. The lightning strike will also be a nice place for the insects to gather sugers for food. They will definitly introduce pathogens that will also accelerate death. It might leaf out next year but it should be dead within 2 years. Looks like you are going to have some firewood on your hands.
Do you have a portable saw and saw dimensioned lumber on site in the woods on private property, or do you just fall trees and haul logs to the commercial mills to sell by cord weight on contract?
some can recover as long as not too much of the sap wood is damaged, 10-20 years later some of those damaged sections can have some fantasticly figured frain where it grew around the deadened damage area.
as forester pointed out, insects are the biggest threat at this point. coating with roofing pitch or commercial coatings used after pruneing might help it a lot in that aspect. otherwise time will tell.
Jeff
Anyway, it should be fine. I've seen Live Oaks get almost split in half and still live. Pin Oaks, on the other hand, tend to not be as strong. I've seen quite a few of them die, some for apparently no reason.
I mean, man, some of us do have some experience, you know. I could tell you lots more, but I'm sure you've stopped reading all the words anyway![:D]
I ran one of these for the better part of two years. Wish I had a new one in a good area now.
It's a Mobile Dimension Saw. Saw moves on a carriage track, log sits still. It sports a 36 inch header blade and two 13 inch edgers and saws a completely dimensioned board from 1/2"x2" to 5"x13" in one pass and powers it back to the operator as the motor (100 HP) returns to the starting position. It takes kind of a large kerf, larger than the bandsaw type portables, but you can size rough lumber and siding boards close enough to use without planing, for structures, and hardwoods oversized to plane into quality stock.
You can run it on end stands or mount the carriage and saw on a really big log of any diameter, cut a row off and move it down until you're out of log. The one I used had a 20' 6" capacity, but they make set-ups that will handle longer.
I have dealt with lots of trees, sick, leaning, and fallen, while managing rental houses.
I never heard of an insurance policy that would pay unless the tree has landed on the house.
If a tree lands on two houses, the insurance co. will figure the percent cost to remove the tree from your house only, and will only pay that percent.
If they actually pay, I need to get the name of your insurance co.
I would be surprised if insurance would pay.
I have dealt with lots of trees, sick, leaning, and fallen, while managing rental houses.
I never heard of an insurance policy that would pay unless the tree has landed on the house.
If a tree lands on two houses, the insurance co. will figure the percent cost to remove the tree from your house only, and will only pay that percent.
If they actually pay, I need to get the name of your insurance co.
Well the insurance co. will pay to remove it.They figure it is cheaper than letting it fall on the home that is within reach of it. I told them I would watch it for awhile to see and make a decision OR cut it down myself and maybe I won't drop it on the home.
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