Weird way to kill a tree

Mr A said:

Every once in a while I read about some freak accident where a tree fell on someone. Not long ago a tree branch fell of an elm in downtown Sacramento crushing a baby in his stroller just walking down the sidewalk. A few years back, a guy fishing along the river, under a tree, a branch fell and killed him.

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Google Trip Halstead. he's from an area of Georgia where I have ample family and they're always talking about him. The story is pretty sad.

charly said:

After doing tree work for years both residential, NYS DOT tree crew- road work and line clearance,,, I see accidents waiting to happen all the time as I drive down the roads... Myself I think they should survey these hazards trees and donate the wood to people who are set up to heat with wood but can't afford to buy their wood...That's a win-win situation in my eyes...

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One doesn't need to buy wood if they're willing to put in some effort to find and process it. ...assuming they're legitimately capable. I'd rather buy an able bodied person a chainsaw and teach them how to use it than give them free wood.

jdp1152 said:

One doesn't need to buy wood if they're willing to put in some effort to find and process it. ...assuming they're legitimately capable. I'd rather buy an able bodied person a chainsaw and teach them how to use it than give them free wood.

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Well I figuring it's better then leaving the wood to rot or have people parked on the side of a highway trying to get the downed wood creating a hazard.. Maybe some guy's working two jobs trying to make ends meet for his family and could use the wood but doesn't have the time to go looking... their primary way of heating not be able to afford oil...another words give back to someone who could really use the wood...

Ehouse said:

Any purple boxes aloft?

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What are these purple boxes you speak of? About six months ago i notice them hanging in trees alog a roadway in my neck of the woods. No one can tel me what thwy are. They are about 100 feet apart for around 2 miles

My theory, having dealt with VDOT over removing trees that fronted my farm in their right of way. The owner wants the tree gone for whatever reason. Sight line issues whatever. The tree is in the right of way and no tree service wants to take it down. Here the right of way on a paved back road is 25' from the center line and that tree would be VDOT's tree. DOT will only take it down if it is dead and thus a hazard. DOT says WINK WINK maybe the tree gets girdled and dies all of a sudden.

Byrond said:

What are these purple boxes you speak of? About six months ago i notice them hanging in trees alog a roadway in my neck of the woods. No one can tel me what thwy are. They are about 100 feet apart for around 2 miles

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As per zap's link, if this were a detection/trap tree it would have a trap (purple box) hung from it.

I'd say the tree has to be declining anyways as the root system under the road side has to be very compromised..

Joful said:

Perhaps, but the root system has been under that road for the trees entire long life. I have maps from the late 1700's showing that road.

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It's no wonder the road is not heaved up from the roots... I'll bet at one point the roots in the road where dealt with...

I see the Amish farms the next valley over the mountain doing this to trees along the roads all the time. And foragefarmer nailed it.
The tree, for whatever reason (right-of-way, powerlines, etc.) is too risky to take down for the neighboring property owner, and the right-of-way guys won't do the work either. So I take it the Amish just plug the saw around the cambium layer of the tree, which leads it to die off and eventually either falls on it's own or needs to be addressed by the right-of-way maintenance......

At least that's what I think is going on....

It is easy enough to determine if the EAB has been there without girding the trees.