Hurricanes and trees ! This last month I got to observe Mother Nature at her worst as Hurricane Irma slammed into the Florida Peninsula and let me tell you it wasn't pretty. I saw trees pulled up out of the ground and literally tossed to the ground . There were trees twisted and snapped at the trunk like a giant had stepped on them . Broken branches on trees that were hundreds of years old and 70 to 80 feet tall. But most of the damage came I presume because of the soil saturation and sheer velocity of the wind . It blew trees over trees, root ball and all. Of course some tree's faired better than others . It seems like a lot of the Conifers got hit pretty hard, whereas the oaks and palms did just a little bit better but even they sustained damage in some degree. One tree that seemed to do fairly well was the Palm tree's they seemed to weather the storm quite well I suppose it was because of there unique structure . Of course the tree's that had been topped in the past were the most damaged in my area , snapped like twigs on top. What a shame. Man made hazards . then there were tree's that had been root pruned at one time so it was quite obvious what had happened when you see a root ball laying on its side with one side of the root zone finely pruned.
Something else I have noticed is that a lot of people are wanting to remove all the tree's that are surrounding there homes for fear that they might come down on their homes . This is a knee jerk reaction that while I understand their concerns is just not based in reality and cutting tree's down that might come down on your home, Yes it could happen but probably not . And to remove tree's that are around your home could also cause more harm than good. Tree's protect structures and homes from heavy winds. It doesn't seem right to remove a 100 yr old tree that most likely will save your home from the high winds because of its close proximity to your home. I've had customers telling me after the storm " I want them all removed " That's just not logical and would be very expensive .
In Summary now we know that it is not always the tree that we think is bad that can weather the storm but it could be any tree , even the ones that you think could never fail sometimes do . I think its all got to do with luck. Just like when a tornado comes roaring into an area. Some homes get hit and some homes are left intact. I will say that I am impressed with the way our palm tree's stood up against the hurricane force winds. And the Live Oaks did well also . Food for thought!
Something else I have noticed is that a lot of people are wanting to remove all the tree's that are surrounding there homes for fear that they might come down on their homes . This is a knee jerk reaction that while I understand their concerns is just not based in reality and cutting tree's down that might come down on your home, Yes it could happen but probably not . And to remove tree's that are around your home could also cause more harm than good. Tree's protect structures and homes from heavy winds. It doesn't seem right to remove a 100 yr old tree that most likely will save your home from the high winds because of its close proximity to your home. I've had customers telling me after the storm " I want them all removed " That's just not logical and would be very expensive .
In Summary now we know that it is not always the tree that we think is bad that can weather the storm but it could be any tree , even the ones that you think could never fail sometimes do . I think its all got to do with luck. Just like when a tornado comes roaring into an area. Some homes get hit and some homes are left intact. I will say that I am impressed with the way our palm tree's stood up against the hurricane force winds. And the Live Oaks did well also . Food for thought!
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