On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 14:43:21 GMT, wrote:

===talk to a tree specialist. oaks are supposed to withstand storms like this. maybe
===there is a problem with lopsided growth, or encircling roots that prevented proper
===root growth on one side. in any case, the tree may need to be trimmed. it is worth
===saving cause it is probably pretty old, right?
===
===
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An oak should take good ewinds, however they do have a shallow root
system, and with the amount of rain Ivan dumped, and the winds it
don;t take long for a tree with a decent canopy to start to loosen up
no matter how healthy it is. I lots a tree during hurricane Opal back
in 1995 that was over 200 years old. A huge oak. Its first lib was
over 42 inches in diameter and was approx 30 feet fromthe ground. Its
canopy would have been sufficient for a state record tree if it had
more uniformity to it. Those oaks may be strong, but the root system
especially in soggy soils suck. I lost 27 of them and on the ones
that were upturned, you can see a root mass that is very very large in
diameter but not all that deep as compared to pine trees. Anothe
rproblem with an oak is once they get past a certain age and diameter
its usually pretty common for them to start to rot and become hollow
on the insides, which usually does not harm them but its not readily
apparaent on the outside. I wold not think an oak of this fellows size
would be hollow though, but water oaks are among the worse for being
hollow inside.
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