Saving Damaged Trees

Monday, January 22nd 2007, 5:28 pm

By: News On 6

Some folks are helping a different kind of storm victim; thousands of trees were badly damaged, if not destroyed by the ice. News on 6 reporter Jennifer Loren says to hold off on getting the chainsaw out, one tree expert says some trees can be saved.

Tim Nall is an arborist with We B Trees in Tulsa. He came to the News on 6 studios to take a look at our video of badly damaged trees across Green Country.

He has some good advice.

"Are these trees that can be cut down and repaired or are they done," asked News on 6 reporter Jennifer Loren.

â€œReally it just depends. On this tree your best bet would be to leave it alone for now and let it thaw out and see what comes back up,â€ arborist Tim Nall said. â€œBecause some of it could be broken, some of it may not be."

Nall says if your trees are not creating a hazard you should leave them until all the ice has thawed. Then, he says, you should inspect each branch looking for breakage.

"If they're broken in any way, either snapped or a long crack in them, then they probably need to be removed," said Nall.

As a rule, he says an entire tree should only be removed if at least one-third of the canopy is broken. Nall took one look at some trees in McAlester and said that's most likely what will happen there.

"More than likely they'll have to remove these trees. You've probably lost more than one-third or half of the canopy out of the tree. There's really nothing else upright that you can trim back to," he said.

Nall says if you wait until the weather is warmer, it won't cost as much to have tree work done. But as an arborist, Nall stresses prevention is key to keeping your trees.

"If you keep your trees in a proper pruning position then they'll always prevail a lot better," said Nall.

Nall says these are all just guidelines, each tree has its own set of circumstances. He says to call an arborist if you have any questions.