Well, I guess I should have spelled that word "Singeing" because now it sounds like I have a tree that has great vocal range. Whoops.

Microbursts don't last long enough for frictional burns. Might be an arc from that line. Not sure why the tree has to go because of minor damage to the tree, but not my property...

Dan

The dark areas aren't burns, they are fungus. That's a pretty old injury. If you look at the base of the wound, you can even see where the tree has started the process of covering over the area. It's not uncommon at all (the fungus or a redbud with splitting limbs). Now if you can find one that sings, that's a different kettle of fish. (-:

gawd dont you hate when you misspell in the title.. been there.. done that..

i agree with brandon ...

old damage.. plus new damage that did in the branch..

just properly prune it.. if you dont know how.. ask and provide pix near the trunk ...

if you have no experience pruning.. it might be easier after the leaves fall off.. so you can more clearly see the structure of the tree ..

BTW.. just reread the facts .. redbud.. VERY COMMON ... perhaps you were near it and sneezed.. and the tree.. in its fear.. simple broke itself ... or wind ..

i had the same damage on a redbud about a month back.. the wind shear... just before a thunderstorm caused it ...

ken

Ok, maybe I'm a bit slow on the uptake, but now I'm confused. Brandon mentions the "base of the injury" but you can't see the base from here. The dark burned-looking spot on the left is the tip of the injury where the branch split. The base (end-point) of the injury is to the right, off-screen, and the trunk is also toward the right.

If you look at the second picture down, the top branch and bottom branch in focus are actually the same one branch, split in two.

I just did some fairly extensive pruning on this tree (fourth year in the ground, first real pruning I could do) about two weeks before we went on vacation and there were no splits or cracks in this area.

I wanted to add that there was absolutely no dieback or leaf wilt on this branch before we left for vacation. Doesn't that severe an infection of the branch usually cause symptoms past the point of problem?

I worded it poorly. What I'm talking about is where the split began (the branch crotch). You may not have noticed the split, but, from what I see, it was there. Sometimes it's hard to see crotch damage (and especially the extent of crotch damage) before breakage.

I'm not for sure what you are asking in that last post. The fungus/discoloration would develop on the branch AFTER exposure. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you are talking about, I think "infection" is the wrong word.

I thought it was fungus at first too, but closer examination from info provided looks burn-ish to me. Maybe a piccie where the charge exited...

Nonetheless, I fail to see why removal is warranted if struck by lightning.

Dan

This is NOT lightning damage.

Ditto to fungal staining in an old split.

Resin

I had to do it!

Here is a link that might be useful: Singing Bush, Three Amigos

I can see the start of encapsulation.

The fungus I am not so sure at identifying

Agreed, the looks of this area are indicative of fungal activity and don't bear any of the marks of lightning strikes I have seen. The thing to remember is that the huge load of electrical charge lightening carries doesn't just stop at the point of contact with a tree. It runs down the tree until it finds ground, all the way to the roots and into the soil. Damage, even if it's not really visible will also follow the same path. Common symptoms on trees will show a splitting of the bark along those paths, or at least some decline caused by such damage. But one blackened spot is not a good indicator of a strike.

Upthread it sure reads to me like they found an exit point. I don't expect to be 100% right all the time, but still.

Dan

It's neat that it split right down the middle. Does the pith of this branch look suspicious to anybody else?

That's one thing, calliope, that piqued my interest.

BTW, with respect to coloration, I went out ~ 2 weeks ago to look at a large lightning-struk plains cottonwood that the inner bark had turned rose-red, when I got there it was only rose-red under the bark, the part exposed to the most air was faded to dull brown, like here. Again, I'm happy to be wrong, just not convinced I'm wrong yet.

Dan

I'm not convinced you are wrong either, electrical discharges are wierd and wonderful things. I was a little girl when St. Elmo's fire sent a fireball through our kitchen and my mother who held all sorts of beliefs associated with her ancestry was convinced it was an omen. A totally scary and cool one, though.

Heartrot is perhaps the most common cause of redbud decline and eventual death. It starts out as a fungal infection from a wound in the bark and moves inward to the pith and then down the length of the branch or trunk. That is pretty consistant with the lignin staining at the crotch and the dark line down the pith. Since it doesn't affect the outer layers where the nurtient paths are, you are not necessarily going to see a lot of foliar involvement at that point.

It's just one of those 'if it looks like a duck' impressions. I'm not great at plant pathology of woody stock but I know a few on here who are, and wondered what they might think.

I agree with others. This is an old split that finally broke apart. The photo also shows the beginning of a callus forming near the crotch where the split had started, perhaps last year.