Maple Tree Question

[Evan_C]

Hey guys,

I have this maple in my back yard. We are renting this house and the homeowners let this grow from seed and didn't establish a clear leader. As you can see there is no main trunk essentially 3 separate ones. Do you think this tree will be fine down the road or a failure waiting to happen? Have any of you seen anything like this in a mature tree?

 

[Jed]

Sure Evan... Occurs all the time in nature. I'm guessing that it's a Silver Maple, and that the trunks will all grow together without too much trouble, but... who knows?

 

[Altissimus]

Agreed Jed , prob a Silver and that's the way they grow. I have seen quite a few large ones cabled.

 

[Raj]

They tend to seek out water, invade pipes. Fun to climb when mature, but brittle wood.

 

[Pelorus]

It will most certainly fail eventually.
Perhaps in 15 or 60 years. Time is a great leveller.

 

[ianwhite]

I'd bet on silver maple too. There are freakin tons of them around here. If it were my place, I'd remove it now before it's more of a hassle later. Probably conservative to say that 80% of what we get off houses, after storms, are silver maples.

Yes, they are pretty much always codominant. I've removed a lot of them and never seen one that isn't codominant.

They aren't very strong, or long lived.

With that said, we've treated some with paclobutrazol and installed various cabling systems to keep them around.

FWIW I wouldn't want one by my house.


Also, they can grow crazy fast....

 

[Evan_C]

Thanks guys. The tree lost a nice size branch last year that landed on the fence. Luckily it was still partially attached so it didn't cause significant damage. When would be a good time to cable this thing? I know the homeowner wants to keep it because it does provide shade on the backside of the house.

 

[Grendel]

I'd also say Silver Maple. That thing is going to get out-of-hand huge in about 25 years. I'd be rid of it and plant something else, perhaps a Norway?

 

[Jed]

Tree Killers!

 

[treebilly]

Vile weed!!

 

[Grendel]

haha, or they can wait until each one of those leaders is carrying about 30,000 Lbs, towering 115 feet over the Garage or whatever.

 

[RopeArmour]

They prune really well. They can be long lived and structurally the best of the big trees for southern ontario. Prune every 5 to 10 yrs. Love them dearly.

 

[Evan_C]

haha yeah wouldn't that be sweet. In 25 years one of those branches will be towering over the dining room and kitchen. Maybe one day during a storm they will have an unexpected dinner guest.

 

[woodworkingboy]

That's a good way to put it. I know one religion during an annual festivity, sets a place at the table for a guest that will never appear.

 

[Pelorus]

"unexpected dinner guest"
Good one!!!

 

[ianwhite]

They prune really well. They can be long lived and structurally the best of the big trees for southern ontario. Prune every 5 to 10 yrs. Love them dearly.

Wow! quite the difference in responses! I am by no means disagreeing at all, but that's pretty wild that they are structurally the best you guys have around...

As far as cabling.... Not something I would really consider beneficial now. In my opinion (and keep in mind that my total knowledge is probably less than half of what some of you guys have already forgot last week), you want it to go ahead and see some loading from wind events. I'm assuming that it doesn't currently pose a risk??? Anyhow, let it build the different types of wood in response to the wind (thigmomorphogenisis I think....) and cable later when the non-avoidable inclusions start to be a concern. You don't want to provide structural support too early, or you can actually be detrimental to the trees' structural integrity.

With that said, I'd remove it for sure. If it's already lost a significant sized branch (relative to it's overall size) that should give you an idea of what to expect.... Imagine that same situation when it's 20 times bigger....100x bigger....

 

[bstewert]

FWIW I wouldn't want one by my house.

Feel the same here.

 

[RopeArmour]

OK exaggeration. But I do take cre of a quite a few monsters some over high traffic, pedestrian, homes etc that still grace the earth even after wind and ice storms.

 

[MasterBlaster]

 

[flushcut]

Vile weed!!

Indeed, but it made me some nice $ during my "year of the silver maple" when I first started out.


Back on topic kill that lill thing and replant.

 

[ianwhite]

Indeed, but it made me some nice $ during my "year of the silver maple" when I first started out.


Back on topic kill that lill thing and replant.

Very true. I always gripe about the amount of silver maples around here that have been topped. Damn things may very well pay for my son to go to college. Guess I oughta start telling folks to plant them!!! Haha.

Hope ya'll are having a good Saturday!

 

[Raj]

I like them for that reason, people love the tree but hate that one limb over the house.

 

[sawman]

dum helicopters

 

[flushcut]

LOL

 

[Grendel]

hahaha. Come one, that's like the only thing they have going for them. . .