Storms and extremely strong winds can have a devastating effect on your home and property. Since today’s homes are much more sturdy than those in the earlier years, most often, it’s the trees and other parts of your properties that bear the brunt of the storm’s fury.
What’s left in the aftermath are the storm damage tree service Brisbane that are damaged, uprooted, broken, bent and totally out of its natural shape.
After-storm care
It does not take much of an expert to conclude that trees damaged by storms require immediate attention.
The most obvious reason would be the potential additional damage it can cause after being beaten by the unforgiving winds and some other events in a storm (lightning strikes, broken tree limbs harming further the people, limbs and property, etc.)
Power lines
Storm-damaged trees might suffer from dangerous low-hanging branches posing danger to life and limbs to passersby; Care should also be taken to some cases like broken and dangerous utility power lines.
Safety issues are of primary importance to homeowners who will consider the need to be aware of these safety issuesand who will be the ones to consider the best approaches fordealing with storm-damaged trees.
Tree branches that are hanging over power lines are also a major safety hazard.Special training is required toprune branches over power lines.
A special precautionary reminder is that homeowners should not attempt toprune these branches. Local power company or an arboristtrained in electrical line clearance to have them removed should handle the situation.
Some extreme measures
Experts that know their businesses in these kinds of calamitous situation should be the ones that call the professionals at this time of stress.
These experts are ready with their chain saws who will do the removal of broken branches, most especially those that cannot be reached from the ground.
These are the professional arborists employed by reputable tree lopping companies.
Hazardous tree limbs
Another potential hazard waiting to happen are loose branches and split trunks is another set of potential hazards that can possibly injure another individual person.
The loose branches are accidents waiting to happen. If the limb breaks loose or the should the tree falls, and the whole trunk might cause more mayhem.
Loose branches / split trunks
Loose branches and split trunks areobvious safety concerns that shouldbedealt with as soon as possible to avoid injuring someone or damaging property if the branch or treefalls.
Broken but firmly attachedbranches that pose no immediatedanger can be pruned after themore hazardous branches have beenremoved.
These include trunks that split down themiddle and is very difficult to braceadequately. The best recourse id to have it removed or handled by a professional arborist.
Leaning trees
Strong winds and the heavy weight of snow or ice can tip a tree overand break its roots. Trees leaningfrom broken roots usually do notsurvive.
If a tree tips in a storm, itoften means the tree had damagedor poorly developed roots beforethe storm. Even if a tipped tree survives, it often is in danger of falling.
Mature trees rarely survive attempts to pull them back into place afterbeing tipped over. These trees should beremoved and replaced with newtrees. (Very young trees however, may survive if they are gently pulled back to avertical position.)
Tipped-over tree trunks
When avoiding further damage to the remainingroots, pressing out air spaces that mayhave formed in the loosened soil can help.
It does help by watering the area of the root systemtwice weekly in the absence of rainduring the fall, spring and summer. Caring for this include covering the root area with around 4 inchesof wood chip mulch. The main point is to prevent the tree from falling again.
Pruning
The only pruning that should be done right after a severe storm with severe consequences on the trees is simply removing broken branches. Leave the major pruning work and finishing cuts until after the tree has been thoroughly evaluated.
Pruning cuts made during the winter months will dry out to some extent.
The dieback of the inner bark around a pruning cut can be minimized if the final pruning is done just before the tree begins to grow in spring. It is best to have a trained arborist to make the finishing cuts.
One last move: the branches that have pulled away from the trunk should be removed at the bottom of the split. To avoid causing any additional damage to the trunk, remove loose bark but avoid cutting the bark that is living and still attached.
Never “top” trees
“Topping” is defined as the indiscriminate cutting of tree branches to stubs or lateral branches that are not large enough to assume the terminal role.
The explicit rule is to never “top” trees.
Topping createsserious hazards and dramatically shortens a tree’s life. “Topping” trees inhibit their ability to producefood and makes them susceptible to insect.
(Othernames for topping are “heading,”“tipping,” “hat-racking”, “lopping,” and“rounding over.”)
Topping (lopping) your trees happens when the main branches are cut back to stubs. It is usually done under the wrong assumption that reducing the branch length will avoid breakage in the future.
Topping reduces the tree’s foliage which limits the amount of resources trees can receive. Trees need all their possible resources to recover from the stress of any damageafter a storm.
Along this line, never use paint or wound dressing to cover the plant’s wounds. Thesematerials interfere with the tree’swound-sealing process. Overall, avoid cutting off branches to avoid unnecessary tree removal in the future.
Be prudent
Do not just prune or remove more of a tree than is necessary.Damage may look severe,but remember why you wantedthe tree—it still may be able toserve that function.
If possible, delay the decision on whether to remove a storm-damaged tree. You may see that the tree isn’t as badly damaged as you thought. After just afew years, the damage becomesmuch less noticeable.
