Deciding What To Do About A Tree Damaged in a Wind Storm

The tree’s natural nemesis is the wind storm. In either hurricane or tornado, some of your trees will suffer damage. To what degree they will be salvageable relies on the strong constitution of the tree and the amount of damage done. Some tree damage is minor and the tree will bounce back straight away. Some is major, and may turn out to be tree damage that leads to certain tree death. Here are ways to be able to tell what you are dealing with in ascertaining the damage:

Minor Tree Damage – And Definitely Recoverable

If the damaged tree just loses a few minor branches, then all will be well. You may need to scrub up the break points if there are ripped limbs, but otherwise the tree will bounce back given a small amount of time. Even a mature shade tree can face up to the loss of a major limb. Prune the damaged limb back to the trunk. Monitor for rot at the cut, but other than that time will likely heal the wound of this damaged tree. Saplings can resist a lot of damage and bounce right back. They might need to be staked if the wind storm loosened their root system, but that should be all that you need to concern yourself with saplings.

Major Tree Damage – Usually Recoverable

Major tree damage that can cause a hard chance for recovery would be if the tree is now at tilting at an angle because the wind storm literally blew the tree to an angle. The roots may end up recovering, but the roots may also have sustained damage. Wait four seasons to see…

If the tree damage is multiple major limb breakage, the absolute best you can do is cut back the torn branches and remove the damaged limbs. Again, give the damaged tree a full cycle of seasons to see how it recovers. By this time next year the end result will be plain whether the tree survived the tree damage, or if it failed. Remove tree at about that point, if it hasn't succeeded to recover.

Dead Tree Standing – Remove Tree

If the tornado or hurricane has ripped off 50% or even more of the crown of the tree, or if the tree is split down the trunk, then know that either scenario is a a hopeless situation in most all circumstances. “Repair tree” options are out of the window here – these are “remove tree” situations. Go forward and remove a tree suffering these kinds of damage as soon as you can, and realize there was nothing else you may have done.

Katherine Parker provides informational articles for Southeast Texas Trees LLC. This article overviews windstorm-related tree damage, when a tree will likely recover, and when it is safe to remove tree with confidence of accepting that it will not survive the damage.