Can these trees recover?

13 years ago

These trees have been battered by last winters storms and have been covered in vines (which I cut at the base). Can they recover?

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Comments (8)

greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a
13 years ago
I think so.

Josh
brandon7 TN_zone7
13 years ago
How tall are the trees? Have you tried removing any of the vines with a pole pruner?
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
13 years ago
better pix for an actual ID might help ...

ken
pineresin
13 years ago
Trees look to be Tsuga canadensis

Should be OK. The dead vine tops may take a while to rot away, but they won't cause any serious problems.

Resin
Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
13 years ago
Trees look OK from here.

Dan
trancefusion
Original Author
13 years ago
Trees are probably 25 ft high. I do believe they are Eastern Hemlock.

The bases also seem very crowded and many of the branches are drooping from snow laying across them all winter. Basically they just look sad. There are 4 trees, two with double leaders.

The bases are grown out pretty far - can I trim them back or will this damage them?

Here's some more pics.. Sorry these are all kind of lousy..

{{gwi:453554}}

{{gwi:453556}}

{{gwi:453558}}
brandon7 TN_zone7
13 years ago
Your trees can be pruned, but I really can't get a good feel for what needs to be pruned with the pictures above. These trees are naturally going to have a slightly weeping graceful (not sad) form. Removing some limbs might help (again, I can't tell from here), but keep in mind that if you remove lower limbs, limbs above that will tend to drop down to fill the void. Also, lower limb removal may result in more snow-load damage later on. Getting some of the vines off might help them look less "sad". That's about as good as I can do without seeing them in person.

BTW, you might indicate where you live. Are the hemlock wooly adelgids in your area?
trancefusion
Original Author
13 years ago
I don't want to remove branches really, just trim some of them shorter, so the appearance is a little more uniform, especially in the damaged areas. Right now, there are lone some branches sticking really far out.

I live in Pittsburgh. I don't know if the adelgids are here, but I did see them online and I don't believe them to be infesting these trees at this time.

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Can these trees recover?

Comments (8)

greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a

brandon7 TN_zone7

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Can these trees recover?

Comments (8)

greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a

brandon7 TN_zone7

Related Discussions

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)

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CONNECT WITH US

trancefusion
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