Decapitating a tree?


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Old 09-12-17, 08:01 AM
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Decapitating a tree?

I live in South Carolina. I have three oak trees in my back yard. Here in SC, oak trees grow tall and thin, like telephone poles. More like pines than like the oaks we find in the the Northeast or Midwest. In the woods behind my house, I can see that several have been knocked over by wind over the years. They don't seem to have a deep anchor root. Last night, as a result of winds generated by Irma, a tree in my neighbor's yard literally snapped in two, and the wind was only in that 35-40 mph range (Fortunately, it fell harmlessly.) If that happened in my yard, those oak trees have the potential to massively damage the house, not to mention their potential to cause injury. I don't want to take them down, but I was wondering if it makes any sense to cut them half way up, or would that kill the tree? Any advice?
 

Last edited by DocPit; 09-12-17 at 08:03 AM. Reason: grammatical error
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Old 09-12-17, 08:46 AM
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The tree(s) wouldn't have snapped in two if they didn't have deep roots. They would have uprooted completely. The key to your problem is which way did they fall? Did the winds blow them towards your house? Not that winds don't change but would consider them as a factor. Where I live, storms many times are accompanied with an east wind. Of course that can change. I don't know if cutting the top half will kill the tree.
 
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Old 09-12-17, 08:57 AM
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I wanted to have two large black oaks topped but was told by a couple of different tree services I called out that it would kill them.
 
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Old 09-12-17, 09:08 AM
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If they said that the trees would die, I believe them 100%.
 
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Old 09-12-17, 01:46 PM
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Which One?

Can you be more specific about the sub species of oak you have? Maybe post a photo?
 
 

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