Drought condition trees can be extra dangerous

Burnham

Woods walker
Joined
Mar 7, 2005
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Western Oregon
It came to my mind to toss this out there, from my safe rocker on the front porch :).

Over the many years I climbed, and instructed climbers, it was a normal part of the hazard analysis to consider droughty weather as a factor that can/will increase the likelihood of limb and even stem breakout, in many species of trees.

So a word of warning from this old climber...this year in many parts of the US, it could be a real factor to pay attention to.

Take care, my friends.
 
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We don't really have that issue here, but how long does it take a tree to recover? Been dry as hell, but you just had a nice soaking rain. When does it turn back to a "normal" tree?
 
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Not really a clue, here. But my guess is, more than a single rainy day, for sure. I think I'd be looking for more than a rainy month, even.
 
The weight added to the limbs during transpiration here in hades makes for sudden/summer limb drop. If the tree has defects inside a limb, they fail. I have had limbs 24" diameter fall where i had been standing 24 hours prior. As a rule, we do not park our cars under trees. Picnics should be under healthy trees (if you can tell) or under an awning you brought with. Any tree with poor attachments V in stead of U is subject to having a failure in our temps.


And mind you TIPs. Work your way up more from larger tie ins
 
Good topic Burnham.
I would hazard a theory that a prolonged period of a very low soil moisture index could raise the caution flags.
 
I will chime in here…
In terms of drought stress, trees react in ways we humans find difficult to understand. For example a drought year 5 years ago may just be showing severe effects now.
trees in general live much longer than humans. Seems simple to comprehend, difficult to realize day to day
 
Not enough people think in the time scale of trees.
I reckon there is an element of truth in the character of the 'Ents' in Lord of the Rings...:)
 
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