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That week in Austin where three big oaks came down at once
Last July I had a stretch where three mature live oaks in the same neighborhood failed within five days. One dropped a limb through a roof on Mockingbird Lane, another split right at the crotch with no warning signs. The third one had root rot that looked fine from the surface but the base was basically mush. Has anyone else noticed more sudden failures on oaks this season or is it just the heat we had?
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the_rowan4mo ago
Got a buddy in South Austin who lost half a giant oak in his backyard two summers ago. He had it inspected the year before and the arborist said it was fine, no issues. Then a dry spell hit and the whole west side split clean off during a windy afternoon, took out his fence and crushed his grill. He told me the root system looked healthy when they dug it up, but the internal decay was so advanced you could stick your whole arm into the trunk. Makes you wonder how many of these old trees are just waiting to go.
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ivanbell4mo ago
No kidding. @the_rowan that's the scary part with oaks, they look fine until they're not.
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michaelgrant4mo ago
That line about "you could stick your whole arm into the trunk" gave me chills, literally. I had a post oak out back that dropped a branch on my shed last summer, and when the tree guy came out, he said the whole center was hollowed out like a pipe. I told him I'd been parking my truck under that thing for years, and he just looked at me like I was a moron. Guess I'm lucky it was just the shed and not my skull.
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