[Sevenhills1952]

Wife & frequent a local home style restaurant and I remember one waitress mentioned her husband was a tree cutter. I have an old very large oak way too close to garage and stable and although I had a state forestry arborist out who said it was healthy I thought it should be dropped.
Another oak my grandfather planted in front yard was an offspring of Oaks Thomas Jefferson planted not far from here I wanted trimmed, and lots of dead limbs removed.
The tree cutter stopped by with his partner, both 30+ years in business and basically I had it backwards. The front yard tree unfortunately is in process of dying, it's as if it's lifting up out of the ground. In back of tree is a rotten spot he kicked with boot, it has a large growth "trying to heal". All the dead limbs I've been picking up in yard are a bad sign, as well as limbs still living are putting out suckers going up, but end of limbs are dead. Shame because it has sentimental value. Red arrow shows rot and suckers going up, yellow dead from there out.

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[Sevenhills1952]

Very large oak behind garage he will trim and cut limbs I had to cut back for horse stable.
It will be shaped up. He has a bucket truck and stump grinder. Felling oak near house, trimming other oak, grinding stump even going along large roots, hauling off everything and grinding another large maple I cut last year then grading everything level, $3,500 which seemed fair to me.

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[Fuzzy]

Sounds reasonable. A shame cutting down those old timers

 

[theduke]

Looks like one of Uncle Waynes indian trees down low where those Straight out branches are.

You in Indian country?

That price is Stellar.......Lots higher up here in just the last couple years.
No shortage of work between the weather and the Big Die Off of the Firs.

 

[Sevenhills1952]

There were lots of Indians here in S.Central Va. My FIL was a Cherokee. There's a place at my homeplace (15 miles from here) where Quartz arrowheads were made. Hard to see in pictures, but a shallow Quartz pit, Quartz chips around edge.

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[Trebor]

We've lost a lot of large oaks on our northern Michigan property over the last 10 to 15 years. Most likely from Oak Wilt. It's a fungus transferred by insects or crossed roots. It's a devastating disease with no easy solution. It's really sad to see these century old trees come down.

But you can salvage some of the tree with chainsaw art.

 

[GreenforMe]

Lumber or firewood if salvable at all. Sorry you have to take 'em down. We have a red oak in front lawn and love it as do the squirrels in fall, but I fixed them last year .

 

[Old Machinist]

I had one that size up and died last year. It looked perfectly healthy other than all the leaves fell off and branches started falling off. The trunk looked fine from the stump up when we see cut it.

I have a monster oak 4 times that big right behind my house. I hope it remains healthy.

 

[Fuzzy]

Our area had the big ash tree die off. Silver maples are a much better choice. Fast growing and no ash borers.

 

[Sevenhills1952]

I asked his advice what to replace it with and he said silver maple. I have two red maples I planted about 80 feet away.

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[Toehead]

Silver maples are pretty weak, but they do grow fast. I suggest doing a little bit of research before you plant one close to your house.

Not for anything but my parents have an oak tree that was displaying those same symptoms about 30 years ago when I was still living with them... The thing is still there, and it hasn't declined any further

 

[Fuzzy]

My in-laws had a silver maple growing in the middle of their driveway that predated the 1890 farmhouse. There was also a sister tree in their side yard. Both well over 100 years old. Oak live longer if you rule out parasites, but who’s counting. You’re correct. Fast growing trees typically don’t live as long. But hardier ones usually last a lot longer.

 

[Sierra1]

I would have him trim them both up, that rot on the first tree is not a big deal. I have a large oak where the whole 2' center is all rotted out at the base at least 5' up and the tree is surviving, growing around it. Of course I wouldn't want my house anywhere around it because one day it will come down. Trees are unpredictable, the ones you think will come down because of rot, storm or other reason are still standing, but what you think is a good tree blows over because the roots pulled out of the ground. We have about 8-10 large live oaks on our property in northern Florida and they are magnificent trees, with spanish moss hanging off them and resurrection fern growing on their branches. Unfortunately, we also have a lot of water oaks which tend to only live 70-80 years and many of them are in their last years and they are losing their tops and branches slowly.

Have any of you heard the story of "Stuckie the mummified dog found in a tree by loggers, here's the link!!!

'Stuckie,' The Mummified Dog Who Has Been Trapped In A Tree Trunk For Over 60 Years (buggedspace.com)

 

[Sevenhills1952]

I didn't want the oak near house cut down either, "I would have him trim them both up, that rot on the first tree is not a big deal." is what I thought, but like he said..rot+all those dead limbs+roots coming up out of the ground+the living limbs are dead on ends putting up suckers on live portion is too much. Out in the pasture, no big deal but 30 feet from house is. Like he said falling over would make a huge crater and be a mess.
Every day I pick up dead limbs up off the front yard...it's getting more frequent.
The larger oak behind garage he will trim.

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[dodgeman]

I have also had some die from oak wilt. Apparently the red oaks are more vulnerable than white oaks. I had a similar one fall over to the one you show the damage at the base. I was still alive but like the pic of yours it was rotting and dying around the base where it just fell over one day. Mine wasn’t as big as yours.

 

[csljr30525]

Wife & frequent a local home style restaurant and I remember one waitress mentioned her husband was a tree cutter. I have an old very large oak way too close to garage and stable and although I had a state forestry arborist out who said it was healthy I thought it should be dropped.
Another oak my grandfather planted in front yard was an offspring of Oaks Thomas Jefferson planted not far from here I wanted trimmed, and lots of dead limbs removed.
The tree cutter stopped by with his partner, both 30+ years in business and basically I had it backwards. The front yard tree unfortunately is in process of dying, it's as if it's lifting up out of the ground. In back of tree is a rotten spot he kicked with boot, it has a large growth "trying to heal". All the dead limbs I've been picking up in yard are a bad sign, as well as limbs still living are putting out suckers going up, but end of limbs are dead. Shame because it has sentimental value. Red arrow shows rot and suckers going up, yellow dead from there out. View attachment 892776 View attachment 892777 View attachment 892778 View attachment 892779 View attachment 892780 View attachment 892781

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I asked his advice what to replace it with and he said silver maple. I have two red maples I planted about 80 feet away.

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I would think twice before planting a silver maple. My dad planted three in his backyard (mine now) about 20 feet away from the house. The root systems of these trees threatened the house's foundation within just a few years and the trees had to be removed to prevent the otherwise impending damage.

 

[Uncle Wayne]

@Sevenhills1952, hate you had to cut those oaks down but I understand. We had to do the same thing a few years back to a fine water oak in our front yard for the same reason.

My Scoutmaster had a forester come and talk to our troop when I was a boy scout and the only thing I remember him saying is: "Oak trees take a 100 years to grow, a 100 years to live and a 100 years to die." Of course it's not that simple but interesting.

We've found a few quartz arrowheads during our explorations in the Bankhead forest. Could have come from your quartz pit via various trade routes the southern tribes used. Very interesting.

 

[ejb69]

I have a few silver maples. Not the best choice to be planted in a yard. I cut down my ash this winter as the bugs got to them. I’m going to plant a few black hill spruce and maybe a sugar maple or two.

 

[Fuzzy]

Silver maples have their place. In your lawn or close to buildings are not the places. It’s amazing how many put young, new shrubs and trees the perfect distance from their buildings for instant aesthetics and then watch them grow and require removal because they’re too close. We had a neighbor who did that. When I pointed out the problem with future growth, he said “ That’s okay, we plan on retiring and moving in 5 years”. Now it’s 20 years later and they’re still there and taking out all the overgrown plantings.