The old oak down by Mill Creek actually split in two last winter

I walk past this big oak near Mill Creek bridge every morning for the last 8 years. Last winter after that ice storm in December, I noticed one of the main limbs was leaning way more than usual. Now it's fully split down the middle with a huge crack, and the park ranger told me it was from years of rot inside the trunk that finally gave out. Has anyone else noticed a familiar tree change dramatically like this over just a few months?

3 comments

3 Comments

tara79325d ago

There's a massive sycamore down by the old railroad tracks near my place that started leaning bad after a heavy rain last spring. Within about three months, the whole thing just toppled over into the creek bed, roots and all. The county guy said it probably had root rot for years and that one storm was just the last straw. It's crazy how you can walk past a tree every day and not really notice it changing until it's suddenly gone. I think about that sycamore sometimes when I take the long way around to avoid the mud.

bell.felix25d ago

Maybe the tree was just old and it was its time, @tara793.

bennett.jana25d ago

Remembered reading something from an arborist blog that said a tree can lose up to half its root system to rot before you see any signs above ground. It's all happening under the soil where nobody's looking. Kinda creepy when you think about how many trees around town might be in the same situation right now.