Whether you were walking through the woods one day or watching a cartoon, chances are you have seen a hollow tree. These trees are almost always portrayed as scary – and there is a very good reason for that. Hollow trees may add a special effect to any movie scene but one in real life in your yard is not so special and is very scary.
Jackson Tree wants to give you a heads up about why and how a tree becomes hollow and why you need a professional tree trimmer to remove it.
How a Tree Gets Hollow
There are a couple of ways that a tree can become hollow that are not within your control. Mother Nature is not something you can tame and when animals, pests, or lightening make a go at your tree you have to be super on top of your tree maintenance to keep the problem in check and keep your tree safe.
One of the most common issues we see that cause hollowed out limbs and trunks is a practice called tree topping. While this is a common old-school practice used to reduce tree size, the International Society of Arboriculture has a firm stance that tree topping does not work for height reduction and causes damage to your tree through decay, stress, and sunburn. Tree topping can lead to a tree’s demise and limb breakage can also create an opening in the tree which exposes it to bacteria and fungi which form a cavity and hollow out the tree.
Why Hollow Trees are Dangerous
While hollow trees are not always dangerous you want to be sure to have a professional arborist assess the tree. Hollow trees can become unstable inside and can easily fall over as a result of a strong wind or even decay. Having your tree removed before you have to stress about it falling on your home or endangering a person is ideal.
A hollowed out tree can also become hosts to many unwanted living things. Insects and wild animals often make hollow trees their home. The nuisance this causes most homeowners makes tree removal the best option.
Why You Need a Professional Tree Service to Remove a Hollow Tree
Everyone has heard a horror story about two people cutting down a tree – one person ends up in the hospital and one person ends up dealing with the insurance company to get the tree off their home or vehicle. Hollow trees are unpredictable, often unstable and need a professional tree trimmer to remove them. An unpredictable tree is not the time to try out the chainsaw you got for Christmas. Professional tree trimmers will assess the tree for animal life and make sure that animals are relocated prior to removal. A tree trimmer will then take the tree’s stability into account and rope out the appropriate sections to get the tree on the ground in a slow and controlled manner.
Worried about your tree becoming hollow or have a dead tree that needs to be removed? Jackson Tree Service has a lot of experience in this area and would love to help! Give us a call.