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Posted by Peabody on July 24, 2005, 10:07 am
Last night my river birch was hit by lightning. I guess that
explains why you shouldn't stand under a tree during a storm.
Anyway, the tree is still standing, but it lost a significant
portion of its bark on about the bottom 20 ft. of the trunk. There
are no scorch marks, so I guess the bark was just popped off when
the moisture underneath turned to steam instantaneously. I
collected a garbage can full of bark chunks.
Do I need to do anything to the denuded areas, or just leave it
alone? Or, is there a more appropriate newsgroup where I should ask
about this?
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Posted by Roger Taylor on July 24, 2005, 10:00 am
> Last night my river birch was hit by lightning. I guess that
> explains why you shouldn't stand under a tree during a storm.
>
> Anyway, the tree is still standing, but it lost a significant
> portion of its bark on about the bottom 20 ft. of the trunk. There
> are no scorch marks, so I guess the bark was just popped off when
> the moisture underneath turned to steam instantaneously. I
> collected a garbage can full of bark chunks.
>
> Do I need to do anything to the denuded areas, or just leave it
> alone? Or, is there a more appropriate newsgroup where I should ask
> about this?
>
Normally a tree will slowly die from being de-barked. I it does die, I would
leave it there, after trimming some side limbs, and the dead trunk, if it
doesn't pose a danger to fences/buildings. A dead tree will stand for years,
and will attract various trunk nesting birds, such as flickers, woodpeckers,
etc.
Plus, it has a story.
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Posted by Pop on July 24, 2005, 7:39 pm
>
>> Last night my river birch was hit by lightning. I
>> guess that
>> explains why you shouldn't stand under a tree during
>> a storm.
>>
>> Anyway, the tree is still standing, but it lost a
>> significant
>> portion of its bark on about the bottom 20 ft. of
>> the trunk. There
>> are no scorch marks, so I guess the bark was just
>> popped off when
>> the moisture underneath turned to steam
>> instantaneously. I
>> collected a garbage can full of bark chunks.
>>
>> Do I need to do anything to the denuded areas, or
>> just leave it
>> alone? Or, is there a more appropriate newsgroup
>> where I should ask
>> about this?
>>
>
> Normally a tree will slowly die from being de-barked.
> I it does die, I would leave it there, after trimming
> some side limbs, and the dead trunk, if it doesn't
> pose a danger to fences/buildings. A dead tree will
> stand for years, and will attract various trunk
> nesting birds, such as flickers, woodpeckers, etc.
> Plus, it has a story.
>
That sounds like good advice. We had the same thing
happen here, only it took off a good 30 ft of bark and
cleared a nice, neat path all the way to our wire
fence! Char marks on the ground, but none on the tree,
interestingly enough. Dunno how many hits there really
were, but there were at least two very loud, massive
concussions following it. My wife was just letting the
dogs in when it hit - she nearly had a heart attack.
We did just about as you advised, and yeah, it died
of course. My nephew cut it down for firewood a few
years later; enough to do him the whole winter and have
a few pieces left over! There was bark all over the
place, some in long stips like a giant rawhide.
Intersting but sad to lose the shade.
Just my 2 cents,
Pop
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Posted by les on July 24, 2005, 12:05 pm
As a biologist, not an arborist, I would agree that you have good
reason to be concerned about the tree. The outer layer (not the
bark) is the living tissue, and the center has a secondary function.
So, with the bark gone, the living section is open to disease.
Secondarily, lets hope the trauma of the hit isn't severe
enough to affect it. This may take some time to surface.
You may want to check with your town, or city if they have
arborists for consult, or the Arborist society online.
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Posted by Doug Kanter on July 24, 2005, 3:13 pm
> Last night my river birch was hit by lightning. I guess that
> explains why you shouldn't stand under a tree during a storm.
>
> Anyway, the tree is still standing, but it lost a significant
> portion of its bark on about the bottom 20 ft. of the trunk. There
> are no scorch marks, so I guess the bark was just popped off when
> the moisture underneath turned to steam instantaneously. I
> collected a garbage can full of bark chunks.
>
> Do I need to do anything to the denuded areas, or just leave it
> alone? Or, is there a more appropriate newsgroup where I should ask
> about this?
>
rec.gardens and alt.home.lawn.garden might produce an extra hundred
responses. You might also want to call a local cooperative extension
service, if you've got one.
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