OT any tree experts or arborists here?

Not an expert, but definitely lightning. I'd drop it if it were mine

We have a Cottonwood in yard. From what I have read fast growing and short lived.  One of our dogs peeled a big hunk of bark off of it before the leaves showed up this year. Tree is doing very well. Just sprayed the bald spit on the trunk. If I don't water it the leaves will drop by mid-August.  Hit it with water and it will leave up again...
I agree with what has been said...take it down...

No, but I just paid one $2,600 today! 

Thatgrimguy said:

kl8ton said:

Call a local tree service.  They have experts there.  I just did this mainly to see if an old maple was worth keeping. I didn't know if it was dying or if I could trim dead branches, etc and it would be fine.  

He walked me around my entire property and identified all my trees for me and gave his opinions on them etc.  He also gave me a quote to drop the maple if I wanted to or to trim it up if i decided to keep it.  

All this was free.

You have much better tree guys than we do.

That's the difference between a certified arborist and a guy with a chainsaw.  You probably do have some arborists in your area than can provide a better service, but they will most likely cost more as well.

Back on topic, hard to tell from the pics, but it does look like the black areas could be burnt.  A closer inspection should reveal if it's a burn or rot.  The split looks to be pretty deep into the other branches.  If there is minimal danger of it coming down on it's own and landing on something later, and you want to save it, go for it.  But keep an eye on it.  Trees can do an amazing job at healing themselves sometimes.  Or they just rot and die.

If there is significant storm damage in your area, the arborists may be pretty busy cleaning up storm damage, so you may need a little patience if it's not an emergency and you are looking for an expert opinion.

Not sure, but I do know that after paying to have a 100 yr old dead tree brought down last month that I clearly made the wrong career-decision.   

Shoot, at a dollar per stick at Hawgeyes for smokewood, it opens up other avenues.....buy a couple KBQs, private cater.  

It is cool, watching arborists pick apart a huge tree.  Running a saw safely is nothing to shake a stick at.  You can be 100% safe, and still get bit. 

It's going to die, might be within a year or two, might make it ten......but it's toast.  I had an arborist tell me just last week that it's just like blunt force trauma--not necessarily the electricity.  If it can blow a piece of 20 ft piece of bark off the tree and throw it halfway across the yard, imagine what vibration and trauma the rest of the wood behind piece that felt.  Plus if it's now missing bark, that effects how the water flows and it will begin to decay......the carpenter ants love it.  Those guys really know their stuff--no wonder they're 4x the cost of a bubba with a chainsaw on Craigslist!

City of St. Louis is taking down 15,000 ash trees this year.  The ash borer is has taken its toll and this is there plan to stop it.

Also, relevant story.......the "Treaty Oak" in Austin had been poisoned many years ago.  They ended up removing most of the soil, then using charcoal powder to help draw the herbicide out of the root system.  Ross Perot bankrolled the whole thing and they saved the tree.  I never knew this story, but heard it from the same arborist.  I laughed told him what I did for a living, then gave him a bunch of charcoal fines to try out.  The next day I got a call from the president of the St. Louis Aborist's Society asking me to come speak at their next meeting about biochar soil amendments.

nolaegghead said:

A lower branch on my neighbor's live oak split 1/3 of the trunk half way to the ground.  This happened during hurricane Katrina over 10 years ago.  I cut off the branch, drilled a hole and put in an 18" lag bolt and pulled the trunk back together.   Today the tree is completely healthy and you can barely tell 1/3 of the trunk split almost to the ground.

So that's how nuts and bolts get into lump...

I would feel bad for anyone who tried to cut that down with a chain saw.

milesvdustin said:

nolaegghead said:

Mine should be easy, only thing nearby is that basketball goal and if i dropped the tree on it my feelings would be unaffected. 

yeah....and as the smart@ss that I am.....you might move the cars too.....Seriously, its a shame....love the shade those guys give off.

Mickey said:

Bad time for trees. Arborist just told us we have Oak Wilt. He tagged 23 oaks next to the house. Asking $5300 to treat now and could have to do every 2 to 3 years as well. Also several to most could still die. Three died in last two weeks. We are going to treat with sugar, corn meal, Texas green sand and turkey poop. Hope it works. 

Never heard of Oak Wilt. Must not be common in Alabama.