The tree\’s natural born enemy is the wind storm. When a hurricane blows, or tornado touches down, some of your trees will become casualties. To what extent they\’re salvageable is dependent upon the health of the tree and the damage done. Some tree damage is relatively minor and the tree will bounce back immediately. Some is major, and is likely to be tree damage that leads to certain tree death. Here is how to generally tell what you are handling in considering the damage:
Minor Tree Damage – And Definitely Recoverable
If the damaged tree merely loses one or two minor branches, then all will be well. You might need to wash up the break points if there are torn limbs, but otherwise the tree will recover given a short period of time. Even a developed shade tree can withstand the loss of a major limb. Prune the broken limb back to the trunk. Monitor for decay at the cut, but otherwise time will most likely heal the wound of this damaged tree. Saplings can withstand a large amount of damage and bounce right back. They could need to be staked if the wind storm loosened their root ball, but that should be all you need to worry about with saplings.
Major Tree Damage – Often Recoverable
Major tree damage that can cause a hard chance for recovery would be if the tree is now at tilting at an angle because the wind storm literally blew the tree to an angle. The roots may end up recovering, but the roots may also have sustained damage. Wait four seasons to see…
If the tree damage is multiple major limb breakage, the absolute best you can do is cut back the torn branches and remove the damaged limbs. Again, give the damaged tree a full cycle of seasons to see how it recovers. By this time next year the end result will be plain whether the tree survived the tree damage, or if it failed. Remove tree at about that point, if it hasn't succeeded to recover.
Dead Tree Standing – Remove Tree
If the tornado or hurricane has ripped off 50% or even more of the crown of the tree, or if the tree is split down the trunk, then know that either scenario is a a hopeless situation in most all circumstances. \”Repair tree\” options are out of the window here – these are \”remove tree\” situations. Go forward and remove a tree suffering these kinds of damage as soon as you can, and realize there was nothing else you may have done.
Katherine Parker provides informative articles for Southeast Texas Trees LLC. This article overviews windstorm-related tree damage, when a tree will probably recover, and when it is safe to remove tree with confidence of understanding that it would not survive the damage.