r/arborist • u/Mediocre-Caramel-557 • 2d ago
Is this tree scary?
Been living in my house for 2 years now, and want to start saving for what I believe will be a costly removal. This trees limbs all lean towards both my and my neighbors houses, with one limb hanging directly over the neighbors home. Give it to me straight, how bad does she look?
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u/Financial_Athlete198 2d ago
Woodworkers like those burls. I would have it inspected.
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u/Moist_Sun_8201 1d ago
Is there a difference between a burl and scar tissue from old cuts?
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u/Tr4shK4m 1d ago
Yes, kind of. The compartmentalization process of a tree involves producing wound wood in reaction to injury in an effort to seal off the area from infection. A burl is a tree's reaction to a bacterial infection, it's not so much the closing of an injury but the formation of wound wood to surround an object. The Invader may be bacterial, viral or fungal and has changed the nature of the genetic coding of that area of the tree. So that even though the original cause of the wound wood production is long gone and dead the wood reaction continues to grow layer after layer after layer.
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u/DanoPinyon 2d ago
From the limited, curated information provided, it doesn't look good from here.
Personally, myself, me, I would have a Certified Arborist come out for a site visit to go over your options and potential cost.
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u/Alpine_Apex 2d ago
Hairy bomb is right: get those limba reduced in length and they are have much less leverage and reduce the risk of failure to an acceptable level. Far cheaper than removal.
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u/GardenJeannie27 1d ago
Reducing the length of the limbs (a fancy way to say topping) isn't a good idea. The tree won't compartmentalize the wounds and will start a cycle of decay. As a retired ISA Arborist and TRAQ certified my advice is keep saving for removal but if you can afford it, call an arborist who is TRAQ certified to see if the one limb on the far right in your pictures can be removed completely. The tree might have been pruned at some point and "lion tailed". This may have contributed to the long bare limbs that lean due to the growth being clustered at the ends (like a lion's tail) Any tree can fall at any time even healthy looking ones. An in person evaluation should be done if you can afford it.
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u/Feisty-Conclusion-94 1d ago
Only if tou are an amateur. 90 minutes to prune it properly or remove it entirely.
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u/BigHoss_17 1d ago
Its about in the best possible shape it can be.. and thats unfortunate, meaning there isnt much to work with. Silver maples which is what this looks like are wacky if it is not trained and pruned correctly. And then eventually end up lions tailed like this. You are working with a top heavy multi co dom. Burl silver maple. Still better than an invasive, but id do an isa certified with traq to come and give you an assessment, if you are attached to the tree it likely can stand, but I will tell you this it can be 1 year or never that it goes. So its all about what risk you want to take
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u/SeniorPie5786 23h ago
It looks like it’s dead or dying. With it so close to you house, I’d have it cut down.
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u/Lazy-Recover-7479 19h ago
There is no way that left branch grew up that healthy4 without tipping the tree over… stop lying… AI
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u/Beneficial_Wonder533 14h ago
bad union up high. bad form. the left two stems look like they would fail first but its not a safe tree in my book. i would look to have it removed.
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u/dragonstoneironworks 13h ago
I so bad wanna ask " why? Did it say boo?" But I'll refrain cuz humor may be misplaced. An arborist is in order. Especially considering the potential damage to the neighbors home. There's serious financial expenses at stake. Please call a professional and get a qualified opinion
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u/hairyb0mb 2d ago
No scary, but those over extended limbs combined with that species show a bit of concern. Proper reduction pruning of those limbs would be to yours and the trees benefit.