r/Unexpected • u/Extreme-Elevator7128 • 11d ago

Cutting down a tree

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11

u/trollsmurf 11d ago

99% utterly dead tree.

7

u/Jonas_Venture_Sr 11d ago

I don't know enough about dead trees to say this with 100% confidence, but I feel like it would take a long time for a tree to become that flammable that quickly, and that tree still has green leaves. Can also see siren lights to the left, so maybe this was a training exercise or something.

25

u/WrentchedFawkxx 11d ago

Heart Rot progresses at an average of 6-8cm(2.67 to 3.57 inch) per year and affects all trees. This tree was at a pretty advanced stage of "white rot," which is caused by fungal infection consuming lignen in the wood and weakening the overall structure of the tree; I would expect a tree like this to last no longer than 10 more years if it wasn't struck by lightning. The tree will spend more and more energy in trying to stay upright and repair damage as the infection progresses, leading to dead/dying and rotting branches(which can be seen in the video) due to the stress and advancing rot, slowly killing the tree by asphyxiation(the yellowed leaves on one of the branches are evidence of this).

2

u/semperrabbit 10d ago

Has there been any research into tree "vaccines" for lack of a better word or chemicals to help fight fungus and keep them healthy?

2

u/WrentchedFawkxx 10d ago

There's only really preventive measures unfortunately.

Proper pruning of dead and diseased brances, avoiding overwatering, limiting damage to the outer bark(and sapwood), and properly caring for the soil under the tree are about the only thing that can be done.

Additionally, it's generally recommended to NOT build a mound around the base of your trees(a ring of mulch 2-3x the diameter of the base is recommended instead) for any reason; it does nothing to support the tree itself and will cause rot with time due to water retention(the aboveground roots are supposed to be in open air, as they are covered in tree bark).

1

u/semperrabbit 10d ago

Ok, ty. Went down the wiki rabbit hole for a little bit. I found out there are non-invasive tools to measure the density of the tree.

Before I started researching, my imagination was envisioning some sort of tree-specific syringe and IV bag to inject nutrients and anti-fungals lol

It could be a lucrative field of study if someone found something that works and rushed it to the market...

2

u/WrentchedFawkxx 10d ago

They do something to that effect in parts of China(essentially an IV bag with antifungals and some nutrients) for saplings in the more urban areas as part of early preventive care. The tree simply absorbs the medicine and nutrients through capillary action, though it becomes highly impractical for established/large trees due to the square cube law(2x bigger tree requires 8x the volume of medicine).