Jim,
I am not sure if you know this, but especially for Oak trees, it is
normal for the heart of the tree to die and decay. In almost all
trees, as the stump thickens, only the thin outer layer is living
tissue. In fact, when you look at some of the magnificent old english
oaks (800+ years old) their stumps are completely hollowed out (a man
can comfortably climb into them), often with colonies of boards, bats
etc. living in them. These hollowed-out trees are ironically the only
ones strong enough to withstand storms, with the non-hollowed out ones
easily snapped by hurricane-strength winds. Also, the flying animals
living in the centre of the hollowed-out stump are actually important
in fertilising the tree, making it growing even better.
I am not saying there was nothing else wrong with your tree, just
sharing that this is perfectly normal, and in fact I'd be worried
about an old oak which was *not* hollowed out :-)
On 09 Sep 2009, at 6:11 PM, Jim Nichols wrote:
> For more than two years, we have watched a large oak, very close to
> our house, gradually deteriorating. Several weeks ago, I had the
> tree checked with a device that records the density of the wood. I
> showed a hollow area near the center of the tree. Since the usual
> southwest winds that we get during storms would bring the tree down
> on our house, we had it removed yesterday. The photo shows that, in
> the lower part of the trunk, the heart of the tree was gone.
>
> So, a tree that we have enjoyed for forty-two years is no more.
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Oak+Tree.jpg.html
>
> Comments and critiques welcomed.
>
> Jim Nichols
> Tullahoma, TN USA
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