Advice on Leaning Live Oak Tree
I planted this live oak tree about 5-6 years ago. At the time it was a 100 gallon tree. It’s started leaning towards the house. I’ve noticed it for a while now but it seems to be getting worse over time. I don’t want it to eventually fall on the house. Any advice on fixing this problem? I love this tree, it’s healthy and doing really well. I don’t want to remove it.
Comments (24)
Danielle Y.
3 years agoRelated Discussions
9 Year old Live Oak Tree: Should it stay or go
Comments (18)zookeeper, that is not enough space (the circle of bricks)for a live oak. In the next 10 years it will probably outgrow that space and you will have more patio paver trouble. Which do You want, the patio as it is or the tree? Not sure exactly how close the tree is to your house, but if there is one oak tree that you could have close to your house it would be the live oak. It is very wind resistant and the wood from these trees was used to make Old Ironsides because of its physical properties. They usually survive huricanes very well. That said they also can die of a fungus depending on where your are at. Then you are faced with removing it. We have two 12" diameter ones at 24 ft. from house. Every other year I prune lower branches to direct them away from the house, other wise they would grow over the roof. Eventually the upper limbs may do the same, but we're not there yet. There are hundreds of houses in Waco built just as close to large live oaks as yours seems to be without too much obvious hassle, so it can be done. If it were me, and you need the shade, and tree is in open with no other competition for sun, I would leave just the middle fork so you can have a balanced tree, one that grows limbs out in all directions and doesn't lean toward the house. With every other year pruning you should be able to keep limbs off of the house without much hassle. These trees typically don't get over 45' tall unless they are in a lot of competition for sun. If you're from a drier part of the country where trees seldom exceed 35' you might leave all 3 forks....See MoreWind damaged Live Oak tree
Comments (10)I have plenty oaks , I guess, but I like the sense of the branches leaning in over the walkway and the sense of enclosure made around our shady place. This is Texas. Shade is desirable and not always where you want it and need it.. I am over 60 and growing trees on this 4" of dry alkaline limestone rubble on a slope and caliche will take a long while especially since I can only water the first year to establish then it is on its own. We live 100% on rain water for all our needs. Irrigating is kept at a minimum. We are all about drought hardy. No worry there. I do know that October - November are the months to plant trees here in Texas. There is a sucker coming up from a root, so there is that variable to the possibilities if I do cut it down. It will take off a lot quicker than a planted tree. Below are what I left in the trimming. I did straighten it out and I took a weird crosswise branch that would have extended and started crowding a Madrone tree. The oak tree that we are talking about and the one on the other side of the Madrone had started to join their canopies and stunt the madrone a couple of years ago. Madrones are more than special and it is becoming an endangered tree. I clipped the branches back 2 years ago and the Madrone has rewarded me beautifully. The winds knocked the tree away from the madrone so Its space has really increased which is good. I do play favorites and I will butcher the other trees for that madrone.She's my baby. She takes precedence. Things look airer and the birds are flying through.Things are not as closed in and I bet the clematis vine will get more light and bloom better. I l included a picture which shows the walkway/sitting area and why I like that tree. I also left a picture showing what MOst of the trees are like around my place. My taste run towards natives and a wild look. No lawn, no hybrids, everything is tough as nails. If things go dormant in the heat of summer, so be it. I do have a good deal of sun here. It was 94 degree sun today and it has been a cool summer.. Now I will keep my fingers crossed and see what happens. I might call an arborist and mine him for info. This post was edited by wantonamara on Sun, Jul 6, 14 at 23:41...See MoreNeed tree advice, top of tree leaning
Comments (4)Go up to it with a ladder, since you'll have to be reaching the part of the tree that is bent, and slowly and ever so carefully take hold of it at the place where it begins to bend over, and bend it way back so it is straight. Then, slowly let it go back to the way it was. Then keep bending it backwards, until it remains straight up after you are finished. You may have to do it several times, but it will usually work. I've done this on several trees. It's the advice I got from an online nursery I bought trees from a long time ago, and it worked for me. He told me that nurseries do that technique all the time, but you have to be careful!...See MoreNeed advice re Scarlet Oak tree
Comments (28)UPDATE April 16: OK, it is now 6 weeks after my first post. 6 arborists from 4 firms later (most of who did not charge for visits or opinions), the fungus has been identified (by UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and the State of CA forestry dept, - and all of the arborists agreed) as inonotus andersonii, common name "canker rot". Accd to what the arborists told me, and what I found on line, rots & kills oak trees, and can cause failure of main limbs AND TRUNKS. Drattt! We did hire an arborist who only assesses risk - does not do tree work. He used a ressistograph to drill into the main trunk 2 feet below the wound. Found bark and sound wood the first 5 or so inches, and then hollow or rot the next 6 inches (which was as long as his fancy drill). He did a report for us and recommended that the tree be taken out. He said that, because of the area of rot, and the closeness of our next door neighbor's house, he thought if the main trunk failed the 80' tree would fall in the direction of their house,and land on and squash our neighbor's one story house. Double Drattt! So, we are getting another bid to take out the tree. I am so unhappy - we really wanted to save that tree. We even had 2 specialist technicians from a nationwide firm who do some sort of sonic investigation of trees, and can produce pictures of cross sections of the trunk using sound, come and look at it. I asked them to give me a quote to do their fancy sonic investigation at the base of the tree (where they normally do it), and also above and below the wound. After I sent them the risk assessment arborist's report which identified the fungus, they told me it was not worth the large cost of doing their investigation, as that fungus is very very bad, and the tree was a gonner. So, I only have one question for anyone on here who knows about this fungus (trying to make myself feel better) - is it as bad as they say in oak trees? Thanks for all of your assistance again - this has been a real education which I would rather not have! The only good news is that we have ANOTHER scarlet oak in the back of our property, which is sort of leaning over our fence and going above another neighbor's garage. The risk assessment arborist said it is not diseased, but recommended we take out two major limbs which are going sideways, to better distribute its weight. We are getting a big to do that too. Jackie...See More
krnuttle
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years ago
PROYardvaark
3 years agoIt is common for trees to lean and if you look around the neighborhood, I'm sure you'll find countless of them doing it. However, if the tree finishes out primarily upright and balanced, it's acceptable. (If a whole tree leans, it looks like something's wrong with it.) There's not too much lean to this tree, and when it's large it will not be something anyone pays attention to or notices. However, what will look bad is its branching structure ... that it breaks into a half dozen or so trunks below ones chest height. Personally, I think it's a horrible look when it's aged. By then it would be permanent. Excuse the crude tree, but I'm only trying to illustrate the trunk structure...
This is curable by removing a couple of the lowest side-leaning trunks every year auntil leaving the most central trunk as the sole main leader. The tree will continue to grow and branch out at ever higher levels, developing just as large and full of a canopy as it would have otherwise done. It will look much better in the end if the trunks don't break until they are several (or many) feet above one's head.
In case there is any question about it, the location of where the trunk breaks will never move up. It is where it is and will remain there permanently. The trunks will only thicken.
HOWARD Martin
3 years agoUser
3 years agoDanielle Y.
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoThank you so much to everyone for all of the help. Here are a few more photos. The driveway is on a significant lean so it’s hard to show in the photos.i didn’t know that buying small trees was better until now. Sadly I just purchased more large trees that still need to be planted. 😬 What about digging up the roots and checking for girdling roots and cutting those off the main leader branch. DIY root excavation. (Just researched this a bit last night). Do you think it’s possible to dig up most or some of the roots and lean it back in the right direction? I have another large tree that was planted 2 years ago that is showing signs of stress. I should have done my research sooner. 😢 I wanted some nice large shade trees and was hoping to live long enough to see some shade.
The main trunk itself is leaning, not just the branches. It's not severe, but it is leaning towards the house. This tree is beautiful, healthy, has grown nicely and is doing better than any tree we've planted. I really don't want to lose it. But of course I also don't want it falling on my house. We live in Houston - we do see our share of hurricanes and tropical storms. I want to do anything I can to save the situation. This tree was expensive and it's already providing some desperately needed shade.User
3 years agoEmbothrium
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoDanielle Y.
3 years agoHere are a few more photos of the trunk structure. Should I trim all of the branches except for the main V shape? This is a live oak. We see all sorts of knarly shapes around here for the main branches of live oaks and they can be quite beautiful in their many forms. You typically see all sorts of main branches coming off which are thinned out so only the branches show. I’ve kept it trimmed regularly but of course I am no expert, or even a novice clearly. Just a homeowner doing my best.
HOWARD Martin
3 years agoHOWARD Martin
3 years ago
lynartist
3 years agoYour tree has already gotten fairly large. I am surrounded by live oaks in SW Florida and they are enormous! It is a constant upkeep of trimming and cutting of branches to keep them off of the roof. I’m sure you know by now about the leaves and pollen. That being said they are magnificent but I would have an arborist take a look just to be sure. Here’s what you can expect in the future but I’m sure you’ve already taken that into consideration!
HOWARD Martin
3 years agoDanielle Y.
3 years agoWe trimmed up the tree. What do you guys think? It looks like Embothrium may be right. We dug up some of the roots and found some wrapped around the tree. We removed several but we still have more as you can see. I am scared to cut too many. Any advice on what to do next? How much deeper do we need to dig?
HOWARD Martin
3 years agocorkball (z9 FL)
3 years agolynartist
3 years agoUser
3 years agoHOWARD Martin
3 years agoUser
3 years agolynartist
3 years agoYup, this what we are doing today in anticipation of the storm. Cutting back everything that overhangs the roof. Danielle would have been better of planting a different type tree as that live oak is really too close to the house!
HOWARD Martin
3 years ago
Embothrium