Sickly tree?

[chrisjpainter]

My parents have got this tree in their garden. It's not massive (30ft?) and sits next to a pond. About a foot up the trunk there's all this damage, some possible fungal damage but also clear insect damage too. bits come off and just powder away and some of the branches high up are now starting to die off. Is there anything that can be done, can it be left, or is it time to remove? 

 

Many thanks

Edited September 15, 2018 by chrisjpainter

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, chrisjpainter said:

My parents have got this tree in their garden. It's not massive (30ft?) and sits next to a pond. About a foot up the trunk there's all this damage, some possible fungal damage but also clear insect damage too. bits come off and just powder away and some of the branches high up are now starting to die off. Is there anything that can be done, can it be left, or is it time to remove? 

 

Many thanks

Was there a fire near it a few years ago?

 

Most of the damage you see is secondary infection by wood rotting fungi and insects. I'd say it was goosed and  never able to recover.

 

 

[chrisjpainter]

 

1 hour ago, openspaceman said:

Was there a fire near it a few years ago?

 

Most of the damage you see is secondary infection by wood rotting fungi and insects. I'd say it was goosed and  never able to recover.

 

 

No fire. It's well away from their traditional fire site. It doesn't look too healthy, I have to say! the other side is fine, but i'd be pretty worried about the state of the middle of the tree, which'd make it a bit precarious. slight lean over the pond and towards the fence to the neighbours too!

 

Edited September 15, 2018 by chrisjpainter

[Gary Prentice]

Have you any pictures of the whole tree?

 

The dieback in the crown (to one side) is probably due to the break in vascular connectivity due to the damage at the base. The other side of the crown remains unaffected so continues to grow.

[OakStag]

If no fire maybe that branch which was removed caused a stretch of dysfunctional bark looks far to big to be the case but if there hasn't been a fire either that or mammal damage. Disrupting sapflow and energy levels causing the crown to dieback

[chrisjpainter]

Some more pics, hopefully they're useful!

The damage does, it seems, extend further round. That's the same branch removed as the earlier pics. There's the whole tree and some of the dead branches. There are more of these higher up and right

[Mick Dempsey]

I don’t see any future for that one.⚰️

 

Whitebeam I think btw

Edited September 16, 2018 by Mick Dempsey

[chrisjpainter]

Thanks for the replies chaps, I have past this on and it looks like I'll be cutting it down at some point. Without landing on the neighbour's fence or in my mother's pond...