Cabling and lightning

[emr]

Has anyone heard of or seen trees with cables attracting more lightning than trees without? A competitor of mine said that he doesn't like to install steel cables in tall trees because of the increased chance of lightning strike. I have never heard of that being an issue before and I certainly have not seen that in my experiences.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I think that's BS.

 

[emr]

I hope so. The HO really wanted me to install "kevlar strapping"instead. I recommended removal on his tree so it really doesn't matter anyway.

 

[flushcut]

Install a lighting rod, it can be a fantastic money maker. I have a buddy who has done a few for some of the big estate trees on Geneva Lake.

 

[Ed L]

My front yard was occupied with a 5' dbh Sugar Maple that was cabled. Probably done in the early 60's, tree was removed in the late 90's. Never hit by lightning to my knowledge.

Ed

 

[treelooker]

Has anyone heard of or seen trees with cables attracting more lightning than trees without? A competitor of mine said that he doesn't like to install steel cables in tall trees because of the increased chance of lightning strike. I have never heard of that being an issue before and I certainly have not seen that in my experiences.

.
More, yes, how much more; it depends. the Kile Oak in Indianapolis had a mess of cables installed (despite the soundness of all the forks), but no LPS. Scary amount of steel, and yes, lightning jumps to metal; seen that a lot.

So cable + LPS may be the way to go. LPS in a 97' tree took me 55 minutes to install, including the wraptor ascent. Easy money. Removing instead of cabling seems a waste, but what do i knwo...

 

[Jack]

I think that's BS.

+1 Seen LOTS of non-cabled lightning-struck trees.

Install a lighting rod, it can be a fantastic money maker. I have a buddy who has done a few for some of the big estate trees on Geneva Lake.

+1 Save-a-tree ... make money ...