Thanks for the clarification- I knew it was one of those. See, I told you I know pretty much nothing about gardening! ;)

hit the link.. and name every hurricane that has hit this tree in the last 100 years ... i dont understand how you move beyond severe storm damage.. to bugs and/or disease ... when you live in hurricane alley didnt katrina hit sw AL??? according to the link at the link.. it did ... are you in SW AL???? last week i had an 18 inch diameter limb come down in a wind preceding a thunderhead ... it was not enough to damage any other tree for miles around.. i would bet a wooden nickle that it was damaged in last winters severe ice storm .. when another branch came down ... but it hung there until the wind finished the job ... why wouldnt that logic suffice to question whether your branches were not damaged in the last hurricane that came this trees way??? pure speculation on my part ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

I did check the yard over the weekend, and the crew did trim many of the trees along the road, and from my brief conversations with them, and from looking at their work its clear that they don't know much about trees. Also I think is unreasonable and overly simplistic to characterize the interactions between utility companies' tree crews and the homeowners as being the electric company carefully exercising their legal rights within the easement vs belligerent customers and homeowners too stupid and foolish to realize that the tree trimming, however ugly, is for their own good. Many times the arrogant, autocratic electric monopolies will overstep the bounds of the easement, unilaterally deciding to trim back or cut down trees that in their opinion may someday reach as far as the easement. Others companies have adopted policies they call "Ground to Sky" and remove every tree, bush, shrub within the easement irrespective of whether the plant could ever reach as far as the power lines. There have even been cases where the electric company has intentionally violated a court order, trespassed on a homeowner's property and cut down all of the trees covered by the court order. Even in cases where they stay within the bounds of the easement, the electric companies (or the tree companies they contract to do the work) will send out relatively unknowledgeable crews armed with chain saws and one-size-fits-all guidelines that all too often fail to take the specific characteristics of the trees or the future health of those trees into account. In the past, work done by electric company tree crews on my property led directly to the death of two trees they had worked on. One white pine that they cut like a candelabra became unbalanced and toppled. Another tree they trimmed rotted internally at the site of a poorly-removed branch; that tree broke in half at the rotted spot and fell directly on the power lines. This particular time the crew trimmed some branches that would never encroach or impinge on the power lines. They trimmed some weeping cherry trees in a way that will encourage those trees to regrow toward the power lines rather than away from them. And a couple of pine trees that did need trimming, had they bothered to ask, I would have happily given them permission to remove entirely rather than return and re-butcher every couple of years. The work they did this time doesn't look too bad, and like a bad haircut will grow out, eventually. However I find the lack of communication frustrating. They showed up unannounced, let themselves into the pasture with horses we are boarding, did a fair bit of work some of which was probably unnecessary, and then did nothing with the big problem tree I originally contacted them about.

This is interesting topic, as I have lived on a standard size home lot for 26 years, ... but with approximately 30 trees at time of purchase and a small grove of trees just off the back corner of the home. Many of the trees are northern red oaks and with heights between 40 to 60 feet. A few and our tallest is 80 feet (yes, think seven story building). The message here is "stewardship" of any home. For younger people out there, being a home owner in such a case means expect to spend a significant amount of many out of pocket over the years in dead wooding costs, removal, etc. It's the flip side of the beauty. 12 of the trees I have had to remove over the 26 years, and just recently I believe storm micro burst came down and twisted/ripped the 80 foot tree into pieces.... incredibly lucky didn't land on the two houses twenty yards away. Within a week of getting quotes for removal, evaluator educated me on the Ganoderma he spotted all around the base of another 65 foot red oak. That's right two major 80 to 100 year old trees to be removed in a weeks time to a total cost of 8500, the cost is reasonable given the height, risk to ropers, and cranes, etc needed. Your first thoughts are how to save such trees or make them last, but this is a residential neighborhood with children playing, standard lots with homes in close proximity, and the reality that such trees are not "young". They are extremely mature, beautiful, ...but aged. Acts of God happen, and when they do it is extremely important to prioritize and minimize risks to yourself, others, and property.