Let me reiterate my concern. Even if a tree struck by lightning lives and continues to grow, the tree may well have damage that will not only limit its lifespan, but also can make it a hazard in the future. Some trees can survive a lightning strike--small ones like resin describes--and be OK. I say OK and mean OK, not really fine. White oak survives and grows as well as any tree, and a really notable lightning survivor, or so I am told, is the larger of the two tuliptrees next to Monticello, T. Jefferson's home in Charlottesville, VA. This tree is aver 8 feet in diameter and is, I am told, hollow from the old lightning damage. But the tree has closed its wound completely and you can't see any trace of it now. But in my old neighborhood in Arlington, VA a really huge tuliptree was struck a few years ago and the lightning made a path between a fork in the tree that had a good "bridge" of wood between. At this point the bridge was killed and unless one looked very carefully one would not see this critical damage. This tree is so large that if this now killed bridge splits, a house could be crushed and people killed. Even if a tree just has a streak down its trunk, this is killed wood and it may not heal. Rot and bugs of various kinds can get into the tree and start working away at the tree's basic support. Please be careful! --Spruce

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.

That is one heck of a split on that poor tree. On one of my silver maples I would call it sun caused. Live oak doesn't do that though if I understand.... Am I seeing right there is a section of bark breaking off on another part as well? Personally I think the tree is going to have an uphill fight. If it was out in the middle of my yard I would leave it. When trees in my yard have exhibited that kind of problem I have removed them if they overhang my parking area, my house, my garage, my shed, my dawn redwood, anything I like. Now I have a kid. Wonder if a kid playing in the yard will make me more cautious. I wish I could grow live oaks in zone 6 and also think the gnarly tree look is cool. What would I do.... Out in the middle of the yard, leave it. I would plant another live oak near its drip line. You say "one of the hurricanes". If the exposed structural wood of this one gets compromised it has to end up on the ground. You might get an early start by planting the replacement. IF it overhangs anything you like, chop her down and start over. Heck, plant two or three replacements if your yard has the room.

Actually the whole house surge suppressor does nothing to help a lightning strike on/through your house. What you've probably installed is a MOV based surge arrestor which means that surge coming through the line will get damped and taken down. So, yes if the strike hits your on-pole transformer it will more than likely minimize the damage to your appliances. However, that case of a house being struck near you and burned down - well, the MOV does nothing for that because you aren't giving the strike an easier path to ground. it will still blow through whatever it is going to go through (trees, houses, etc) until it finds ground. A lot of houses burn down with a lightning strike for whatever reason. Not sure if its the lightning causing the fire or the resultant electrical charge frying everything in its path, but it is an issue when a strike happens. I think people need to understand that it isn't a lightning rod that gives protection. Get a qualified study and get some decent information. I don't see how you can decide that 'lightning rods weren't going to provide enough protection to ensure" your house wouldn't be fried, yet believing that a MOV sink will ??? The 'rods' or air terminals are above the roof line and tied together to down conductors to ground. The question is whether the installer engineered it such that its adequately installed so that the coverage attracts a strike to go that route vs another - not whether it works or not. Now whether you want to pay for it, can afford to pay for it or don't want to pay for it can certainly factor into whether one installs it and I can understand that. But to say that installing a MOV sink will protect yourself over a lightning protection system is a bit absurd. (BTW, an adquate LPS contains a MOV sink as well, but its the other components tied into protecting the entire house) The other components are potential lifesavers as it protects the building- the mov sink only protects the powered items within the building.