Summer in panhandle Florida is primetime for outdoor fun. The heat and sunshine make water related activities, either salt or fresh, first rate in the local paradise within easy driving distance.
However, there is a serpent in this area-wide Garden of Eden. The calendar indicates the approach of the hurricane season’s peak is four weeks away.
What the winds of 2021 will blow in is still anyone’s guess, but the official prognosticators have staked their professional reputations on a higher-than-average number of storms this year.
The prudent course of action is to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. One area of preparation where residents can have a distinctly positive effect is readying their trees for the potential assault.
Damage from falling trees and limbs is a major cause of destruction during tropical storms and hurricanes. Removing potential problems before the storm does will minimize harm to structures and injury to residents.
Mushrooms growing on the roots of trees is a bad sign. This indicates the roots are decaying and the tree will soon become (or already is) unsafe.
Trees in decline are especially hazardous. Their compromised health makes them subject to uprooting and breakage with far less force than would affect a healthy tree.
There are several key indicators for tree health. Any single factor or a combination can mark a tree as unsafe.
Mushrooms growing on or very close to trees is a sign the tree is dying. The fungus is not the cause of decline, but it is an indicator of the eventual fate.
Spores of the mushrooms are scattered on the wind and by water. Landing randomly, most never sprout when arriving on a site devoid of necessary resources.
Those lucky spores which land on decaying wood will likely sprout and take nourishment from the rotting plant material. Their roots accelerate the decomposition of the wood by consuming the available material and exposing more of the tree to colonization by mushrooms.
Sites on trees and plants with mushrooms typically are break points when pressure or stress is applied. If the mushrooms are located at the base of the tree, it is likely to be detached from its roots and topple over in heavy winds.
Another indicator of tree health is its crown, or the uppermost branches and leaves. Healthy trees and plants have green and growing crowns.
When the crown turns brown and the leaves drop off, it is a good indicator that the tree’s days are numbered. The causes may be disease, lightning, or mechanical damage to the root system.
Lastly, bifurcation or trunk forking is a structurally weak tree. This condition may display itself when the tree emerges from the ground or at a place on the trunk.
When the wind direction stresses the tree with enough force at its angle of vulnerability, a collapse will result. Unfortunately, there is no simple way to tell how much wind is required to produce the failure.
Any of the trees in the landscape with these problems should be evaluated by a certified arborist and removed when necessary. It may result is an expense now, but it can save on expenses, inconvenience and aggravation if a storm randomly removes the tree in the coming weeks.
The question which home owners and landscape managers must ask is whether it is really worth the gamble to wait for storm winds to arrive.
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