We lost a tree during the summer during one of those heavy thunderstorms that peppered August. It fell unnoticed for two days into our 'wooded lot' on the side of the house. But then, last weekend, during the overnight rainstorm, we lost another. Both of them were big Maples, the first a Nordic maple and the second an older maple of indeterminate heritage. Well as you can imagine, one, no big deal, but a second fall made me take a closer, more suspicious look at the big beautiful behemoths that ring our house.
In the front right on our property line, and right on the street we have an enormous maple that must be 100 years old if its a day, and from the front it looks fine, but from the back it is completely eaten away with rot, and is littered with huge mushrooms.
On the size bordering our neighbors we have three fifty+ year old Oaks and they seem ok, but I've heard Oaks indicate poor health first at the top, and if that's the case, we may be seeing early signs of decline. I'm not worrying about the Oaks yet though, they haven't dropped any big limbs while we've been here.
On the hill in the back, we've got several mid-size maples, and I'm sad to report none of them are particularly healthy. It could be their proximity to our septic tank (circa 1968 say no more). For the second one down, it could be that it was in a tight stand of trees and was weak due to weathering in a group. It could be it was their time. Or it could be it was infested with some bug. It could be all of the above.
I admit was already hot to chop down some trees to 'take back' a bit more usable space for our family, but now I'm thinking I should do it with an eye towards increasing the health of the trees that we keep. I'll keep you posted on what we end up doing.
I'm home for Halloween with the kids, but my eldest didn't want to miss the mask parade at daycare, so I need to go pick him up now that the festivities are coming to a close. Our festivities are just starting though... Happy Halloween everyone!
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