Kristen wrote:
Hi, we had one of our nicest pines hit by lightening yesterday. I
took some pictures to see if people think it can be saved. It's split
from top to bottom, but the reason I have some hope for it is that 1)
it's only split, not exploded, and 2) this tree has 3 leaders, and
only one seems to have been damaged.

I took some pictures for people to see the damage. I left them full
size, so you'll have to scroll down, but I cropped as much extraneous
material from the photo as I could to keep file size down. Some have
notations added in the photo.

(http://www.metrocast.net/~randall/pine-upper.jpg)
This is about 1/2 way up, showing the typical damage running from top
to bottom. I have indicated the three different leaders with arrows.

(http://www.metrocast.net/~randall/pine-trunk.jpg)
This is the base of the trunk. As you can see, it's quite wide, maybe
24" diameter, so it's an old tree. You can see where the bolt went
into the ground.

(http://www.metrocast.net/~randall/pine-trunk2.jpg)
Here's the trunk a little higher. This photo shows the two main
leaders and the damage coming down the one on the left. The leader on
the right splits again right above the top margin of the photo.

Ok, so what's the verdict? Can we remove the damaged leader and save
the two remaining ones? They wouldn't be a danger to fall into the
yard like the damaged one, because they lean toward the woods. I
thought they might be able to cut it right where the first split is
and paint the damage to the bark below that with something to protect
it.

We plan to have a professional come and do something for it some time
before winter (when is best?), but I'd like to know what bad news
we're in for ahead of time. I really don't want to lose it
completely, because not only do I like it, but it offers some valuable
privacy from a nearby horse trail.

Thanks,

Kristen


You'll probably need to keep the tree sprayed with Lindane (or Dursban
or Cygon?) until it heals to keep Pine Bark Beetles out. They can smell
a stressed pine tree and will quickly attack and kill it.

You can ignore this if you live someplace where there are no pbb's.

Good luck,
Bob