Red Maple decay

JD3000

JD3000

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Columbus
20161001_171733-1.webp 20161001_171733-1.webp 20161001_171740-1.webp 20161001_171746-1.webp 20161001_171759-1.webp Just looked at this yesterday. 18" red maple with basal decay on south west side. Any thoughts on the black coloration on the older exposed wood? Hypoxylon?
Sunken area below old pruning wound, bark appears darker there too.

Tree is exposed to strong winds from south west and west. Approx 7" codom snapped off last summer 30' up in canopy during a strong storm leaving a 3' jagged stub. No visible fruiting structures on said stub but I'll be getting a closer look at it soon.

Tree has a large mulched area to north side and Ill be expanding more mulched bed to west after some air spade stirring and amending. Soil tests pending but leaf size, color, and twig growth looks good.

What else?
 
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It will be interesting to see what the stub looks like with a closer look. Since the codom broke out but left a significant stub, we are thinking no included bark? You said it snapped off "last summer". Would that be summer of 2015 or this year?

If this year, you might want to leave the stub until spring to see if it sprouts for appropriate replacement growth. That, of course, would depend on the rest of the crown; are there branches ready to fill in this spot or will it remain open longer than preferred? Any live growth would also be preferred over a large open wound, which would be a long time sealing over.

Sylvia
 
Old college buddie's place, I was originally there to help move drywall...

Branch broke out last summer in a wicked summer thunderstorm. No sprouting this year.
New wrinkle is that he used glyphosate to kill the turf 4 years ago where the bed is now. No foliar symptoms but drift may have killed the trunk and flair tissues in that area.
Closer look at the stub tomorrow.
 
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Removed the jaged stub today. Some early decay discoloration on the exposed portion but none in the wood at the cut.

Soil test still at lab, bed expansion to be done after it arrives. Tree looks great with no fall color developing yet.
 
If you look at all that Woundwood around that basal decay, you can guess that the root was damaged and some decay moved up. The key thing is, with that amount of woundwood, the tree may be stronger than it was before.

With that kind of response it really is more of an aesthetic Issue than a stability issue.
 
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Thanks Guy,

Not hollow but... did sound a bit "off" though. Bark held up to the mallet impact quite well so I'll keep an eye on it.

Soil results are in, fertility, CEC, pH etc all came back swimmingly by central Ohio Standards. OM at about 2.5% so we'll be expanding the bed area this week. Grass isnt growing well under the tree anyway and the HO is much more interested in adding some understory ornamentals anyway.
 
When you do, can you get a pic of the roots below the cavity? I've found that trees with open cavities tend to form big new roots at a point right under the opening. See page 76 in this month's Arborist News for a pic of one. Your maple's cavity is open at the bottom, but you may still see some response.

This points to the problem of trying to apply mechanical principles to biological organisms. Bartlett's formulations fail to take this and other tree reactions into account.
It's tragic that biologically bankrupt (and mathematically suspect) speculation has such a great influence over so many arborists who trust ISA, and leads them to condemn good trees.
 
The start of this disease may be the amputation of that large limb. No matter how and where (flush, codom, collar or not) the cut was made, the tissues below were starved, hence the "off" sound.
 
Think you may be right. Seen similiar occurences when limbs have been removed and there is that depressed/sunken area below the collar. In this case, the cut appears to have been NTP.
 
And more importantly, what would be the proper protocol for avoiding this in the future?
Limb came out, probably too low for the homeowner, cut was well placed. It is a larger cut though.
??????
 
@guymayor
Got the air spade work done today.
Did lots of sgr pruning today, tired as all get out.
What do you think of these new pics? I can go back at get some of the fibrous roots out of the way for a better look but the DK didnt go too far below the soil line and many roots seemed to be emerging from this area as you suspected may be the case.
20161109_094406-1.webp 20161109_094412-1.webp 20161109_094418-1.webp
 
Had 3 other trees on site with burried root flairs that did need it though. Few minutes of work lost on the red maple.
 
Did you cut any of those roots? What did you backfill with? I'd keep the bottom of the wound exposed.

Flare = Trunk swelling to form buttress roots

Root collar = where roots divide.

An inexact distinction, but still useful.
 
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