through the key hole

[citrus]

have a partly dead cherry tree in the garden (half gives cherries .. the other half had no leaves this year) ... we did some tree work to cut back some of the dead branches but on one of the old limbs near the main trunk at the weekend found a hole facing ~south

 

sadly my dad isnt with me so thought I would ask the experts on here ...

 

the glove gives the scale of the size of the hole (pretty big ) .. is it woodpecker ?

 

now there is another 15ft above the hole ... is best practice to leave things alone ?

 

 

cheers

 

chris

[Goaty]

It depends on the whole tree what you do with it. If its a safety issue, kids playing near it etc. It might need to come down. You only show the hole part of the tree. I would imagine being part dead means it has decay, insects have burrowed into it and the woodpecker has attacked the insects. It seems the trunk is rotten/hollowed out.

 

The tree could live for years growing thicker and maintaining its structural strength, but being a cherry it could be suffering one of the diseases they seem to be getting these days, and on its way out.

You could remove the dead and balance it out weight wise in the top or skin it up to a totem pole for wildlife habitat. I offer these suggestions which may be invalid if you show us a photo of the tree or diseased part.

Have a look under cherry in the search bar to look at the threasds on diseases.