WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST?
Got a chance to really drive around over the weekend and observe some of the tree damage from last week’s ice storm. Tree failures or damage mostly occurred on over-extended limbs or worse on co-dominant stems or leaders. In order to prevent this from occurring, you can start to structurally prune your tree to a central leader when it’s younger or perhaps install a cable on mature trees to prevent splitting at these tight crotches or unions. The photo below shows a white oak getting ready to split in a big way.
Ryan Trapani
Director of Forest Services
Catskill Forest Association