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We have these many trees surrounding our home within 35 to 40 ft. We have mostly Pines, Crab Apple, Maples, and others that I forgot their names. We had them planted when we had the house built 41 years' ago, most of them in raised beds due to the CLAY factor.
They have grown to be very tall, and healthy, however, with all these climate changes, we are beginning to feel uncomfortable every time there is a storm coming from the Pacific Northwest to the East Coast, zone 7. And are afraid the winds, may topple some of them upon the house. We have underground electricity wiring, so that is a plus, as far as outages is concerned. But these storms are getting more and more vicious. This Spring, we had four months' of almost constant rain, following three months' of 85-90 degree temperatures. The sprinkler does not reach all of them, so we do them by hand.
Should I have them cut half-way, feed them? Thanking you in advance.......
Winter windstorms are an issue here... not so much because of climate change, but because we have ALWAYS had windstorms in winter here that occasionally topple trees.
I agree with having an arborist come out and evaluate them and teach you about each of them, so you know if or how they should be cut. Evergreens can sometimes be 'windsailed" which means to cut some of the branches out so they grab less wind. They should never be 'topped' unless you want to end up with a sick tree.
Honestly the thing that makes me most nervous about your trees is that you say they are in raised beds because of clay. If they had been planted in the native clay, they may have been a lot better off. If they are sitting on an island of topsoil that isn't really connected to anything underneath, and have been watered well their whole life so the roots never bothered to travel any further, they could be sitting on a very tenuous footing. I would check that out.
FWIW, I love this part of the country and I love our tall trees, but after years at another place where I feared the trees during storms, I cut everything that could reach the house or barn at our new place and have never regretted it. It's a bit hotter in summer now, but I feel safe during storms, which means a lot to me.
Our last house was built in the middle of what was a Christmas tree farm, but never harvested. We enjoyed the shade and freedom from mosquitoes that the pine trees gave us, but the trees had very shallow root systems. In the 18 years that we lived there, we had many lean towards our house and had to have many removed.
My advise is to have the trees that endanger your house cut down by professionals. Peace of mind is worth a fortune.
Why do you water fully grown trees? I have trees that are between 10 and 15 years old and have not watered them since they were young. Mature trees can easily survive several months of drought. If you are worried about the ones falling on your house, as mentioned before have a professional come and take a look and remove the trees that are either unhealthy, leaning, or too close to the house.
Besides age; invasive pest are posed to kill 40% of the trees in the US: https://www.theguardian.com/environm...risis-resource. We were in the same situation as the OPs. We had giant White Pine trees that had grown up and threatened our house; not to mention the needles and cones that they would deposit on our vehicles and in our gutters. We also had 14 Hemlock trees that were attacked by the woolly adelids that were also threatening our house. We had maples and oaks that had been attacked by the old gypsy moths and they were dying; they were also getting attacked from other pest. I have 20+ Ash trees killed by the emerald Ash borer. Even a garden orchard of nine apple and pear trees were being killed off by the fire blight.
All of the tree removal is very expensive; fortunately I can do most of it myself. I did pay to get four of the largest and most dangerous White Pines cut down; but I did the cleanup after they were dropped. It is considerably cheaper to have them dropped than to pay for the full removal. But you need a place to place all the limbs after the trees are down. You can either burn much of the firewood or give it away free to anybody you know (the pine is hard to even give away because so many fear all the pitch). I had a man grind about twenty of the stumps for about $1,500 which I thought was a pretty good deal because I did not have to haul away the stumps.
To me it is not worth fooling around and doing a serious 'pruning'. Most trees are ugly after being seriously cut back. There is another problem and that is what do we plant after we remove all of these trees? Considering that my area is just now being infested with the new lanternflies and the Asian long horned beetles are going to be next; what is 'safe' to plant? I might have to settle for a 'lawn' instead of a forest!
These questions are not only for the home owners. Our states, townships, and utility companies are going to have to deal with these problems in the near future. Motorist will have to worry about more trees falling in the roads that they use to consider 'safe'. Dead trees also burn hot and fast and could bring problems like they are experiencing in CA to other states.
I agree with others you should get your trees assessed by an arborist. None of your trees or their branches should be able to reach your house if they happen to fall down. Get him to list the names of all the trees so you can research their habits and productivity. Be prepared for him to suggest to have to take down too tall non-fruit productive trees, i.e. maples and pines and others.
Your crab apple trees can be topped and pruned/thinned back if they're too tall. If you have any other kinds of fruit, nut or ornamental flowering trees they can likely be topped and pruned back too if they need it. If you end up having to have several too tall trees removed and want to replace them with some more trees, consider replacing them with all fruit bearing trees.
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Our last house was built in the middle of what was a Christmas tree farm, but never harvested. We enjoyed the shade and freedom from mosquitoes that the pine trees gave us, but the trees had very shallow root systems. In the 18 years that we lived there, we had many lean towards our house and had to have many removed.
My advise is to have the trees that endanger your house cut down by professionals. Peace of mind is worth a fortune.
gentlearts: There are about four trees that I feel are really a threat to our property. We are going to wait until the Spring to deal with them. The temperatures now are beginning to pick up, and will be getting colder starting this week, down to 32 degrees. This is going to be a difficult job, because we have two houses close to us, with three fences to worry about. April is a good month to start the ball rolling. And yes, peace of mind is worth a fortune.........
....are afraid the winds, may topple some of them upon the house.
Should I have them cut half-way, feed them? Thanking you in advance.......
Measure the distance of the trunk to the home and see if it topples if it will hit. Not the top of the tree. Top branches shouldn't cause bad damage. Choose the ones you want and cut down the others. You might want to avoid reading headlines as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook
Winter windstorms are an issue here... not so much because of climate change, but because we have ALWAYS had windstorms in winter here that occasionally topple trees.
A lot of times a history book or homework is needed to realize this. I remember in 2010 having a bad wind storm here and my neighbor took down all his trees because of the fear put in his mind about storms getting worse.. Hasn't been that bad since. Just the typical NorEasters and storms we have always gotten. He regrets it because his cooling bill has been much higher.
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A lot of times a history book or homework is needed to realize this. I remember in 2010 having a bad wind storm here and my neighbor took down all his trees because of the fear put in his mind about storms getting worse.. Hasn't been that bad since. Just the typical NorEasters and storms we have always gotten. He regrets it because his cooling bill has been much higher.
