The Observation Deck

Tree down in tonight's ice storm.


More in my March Photo Blog

http://lakewoodobserver.com/photoblogs



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Yup, had one of our branches bounce off of our roof already. This storm is amazing. I walked out to see what hit us and the ground had a significant amount of just pure ice caked over it. I hadn't seen this since my days in BGSU when we got storms like this seasonally. Pure ice storms just haven't happened this bad around here in a while. Boy howdy chipping out of this in the morning will be fun. Memories of Dr. Zhivago dance in our heads.

Be careful out there.

We're frozen in.

There was no way to open our screen doors so we had to boil water and dump it so that it would melt some of the ice away.

I am iced in (thanks, Ivor for the hot water idea) with a part of a tree and powerlines blocking my driveway. I am a little concered about the corner of my front porch which looks like it got hit but I can't really see out the iced windows, nor can I get around to look at it because of aforementioned tree and powerline.

But I have power, the internet, and plenty of snacks. I think I have a snow day in my future. Wahoo!

Luckily we didn't lose more of our tree, but this is going to be fun to clean up.
Suzie lost her phone and cable lines and well lost part of the dog run, I am just glad it missed the house.

Ruth and Danielle

We are all indeed lucky.



Two gutters and a couple small pieces of wood is all we lost. I was sitting working on the computer when I heard what I thought was ice sliding off the roof. When I went to see how much fell, there was a tree against my window.

It could have been much worse. I hear a house got hit bad with a tree yesterday and they could not even get to it as the power lines were down everywhere and CIA crews were tied up.

Two years ago the Observer got a letter from a person that has studied the Silver Maples that have been around Lakewood for 75 or more years, and found a great many of them to be dying, rotted and generally unsafe.

Three months ago my neighbor lost one of his trees.





The tree was also rotted from the roots up.

Has the city inspected our old trees?


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Has the city inspected our old trees?

If those trees are on private property, I would think not...

We need to keep an eye on our trees and know how to spot trouble.

It would be helpful to find an expert to write an article for the paper!

Jim O'Bryan wrote: Silver Maples that have been around Lakewood for 75 or more years, and found a great many of them to be dying, rotted and generally unsafe.

That is true of a lot of the old trees in lkwd. The big old pin oaks and red oaks too. A lot of these are mature and stressed.

Some people don't realize the inside of the tree (the heartwood) is dead. It's only purpose is providing strength. The outside layers of the tree (cambium) is the living part. A lot of these old trees get ants, bugs, parasites, fungus and so on attacking the heartwood. They lose their strength/structure then start to drop limbs and/or fall.

A lot of these trees look perfectly healthy but are hollow in their trunk or limbs. If you have any of these big old trees, it is worth the money to have an arborist check them out every few years. Have a true arborist check it out, not Big Bubba's tree and lawn service....

In addition to what Jim said the other big problem with the silver maples is their root system is shallow. They blow over easily.

If you have one of these big beauties in your back yard, and it is a typical postage stamp size lot with lots of ugly power, cable, phone lines strung all over, and has limited or zero access for machinery (I just described about every back yard in lkwd!) you will easily pay many thousands of dollars to have one of those trees taken down and out.

It's worth to have an arborist check it out.

That's a big chunk of wood, Jim. Thank goodness nobody was injured. My mom told be about it last night and I saw it this morning.

Way to be at your post working away.

dl meckes wrote: know how to spot trouble.

Sometimes you can't because of the rotting from the inside out thing...

Arborists can drill plugs, use x-ray type devices, and some will just use a sledge hammer and listen for hollow areas.

Other ugliness can happen too. Like squirrels (good .22 short practice) building nests in the crooks causing decay to start and so on. Then there are all kinds of insects attacking them like the EAB. Trees have a tough life... I need to go hug one now

Like I said, people may think you're nuts, but it is worth the money to have your tree inspected every few years. Especially if it is one of the big old mature oaks, maples, ash, elms, and so on. Just my opinion

Lakewood is loaded with Silver Maples, and most at at the end of their lifespan. We had two in our front yard that looked to be in perfect health. We had an aborist take plugs and found out that they were EXTREMELY rotted on the inside. To be safe, we had them taken down, and those huge trunks looked like donuts. I would be willing to bet that the same is true of most of the Sikver Maples around town. They look just fine, then WHAM! a high wind, an ice storm and down they come.

If you find that you have one that needs to be removed, at least plant a tree as a replacement.

Jeff

DL

Most of the trees I am speaking of are on public land.

5 by my house, one on my property.

The other one was on private property but as Joe Ott and Jeff Endress pooint out, it was hollow. Look at the photos and you can see limbs 30' in the air rotted or eating away by ants.

With sop many of these trees on "public property" and the Observer running an article two years ago, maybe, just maybe the city should take a look.

It was my understanding that during cost cutting in the MTG Administration our arborist was "retired."

As it thaws today this will again become a large problem.


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Jim O'Bryan wrote: the Observer running an article two years ago

Reprint it. What issue was it?

Jim O'Bryan wrote: As it thaws today this will again become a large problem.

A water soaked 3 or 4 hundred pound rotten limb 40 feet in the air above your car/garage is kinda scary, eh?

About a month ago I noticed two large cracks running all the way up the trunk of a huge oak in my front yard. I have a neighbor who's a certified arborist, he came over and said it had to come down RIGHT NOW!

You could hear it cracking in the wind. The company he recommended would not send a climber up, so they had to rent a huge crane to help take it down. It was VERY EXPENSIVE but had I not had it removed, it would have come down by now, all by itself. All over the driveway, power lines, another smaller tree, the street, etc.

Unusually, the day I noticed the crack, we had a message on our machine from the refuse dept saying they had noticed the cracks when they were doing their weekly pickup, and recommended we call an arborist. Gotta give 'em some credit for noticing.

At any rate the tree is down, and yes it will be replaced next spring. My grandpa was a big believer that all trees should be removed long before they go bad, and replaced. He was always taking down trees. My replacement will be the third tree we've planted on our lot. The one we removed was also our third. One of the others was a sugar maple that was half dead, apparently the sugar maples are doing poorly even in the forests around here. They like cooler weather.

We share another large oak with our next-door neighbor (property line goes right thru the trunk) whose roots are starting to rot. You can tell by the fungus stuff that is growing at the base of the trunk. It will have to be removed too, it will be number four.

BTW last night the ice knocked down a similar tree at a neighbor's house next to the Clifton Club. Fortunately it missed the house. Coincidentally, a neighbor had a huge crane in their backyard just a couple days ago, taking down a huge tree. Maybe two.

I think if we are to remain the “city of treesâ€￾ we need to be more proactive about them, like my grandpa. But it is an expensive proposition.

in the morning light!



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