Lightning Struck Tree Removal
One of the trees near our house was struck by lightning and had to be removed. Alan the arborist did the job in a couple of hours yesterday.
The lightning directly struck another tree that was next to this one and it had to be removed immediately. This big oak didn't show any signs of damage until a few months later when it developed a big wet spot on the bark. Apparently, the electrical current can jump from tree to tree and injure more that one tree with a single strike.
I'm kind of a gearhead when it comes to machines. Tractors, excavators, bulldozers are all just fascinating to me. Alan brought his brand new man lift for this job. It rides around on little tank treads, but has big padded outrigger feet to keep it stable when the bucket is in the air. He even has a remote control so that he can walk around it while he is carefully maneuvering around the house.
I almost missed the chance to see them cut the top off. Watching people work is interesting because you learn to appreciate the skills they've developed from their experience. A crew of three men took down this tree and cleaned up the mess in just a few hours.
Logging is one of the most dangerous occupations and you can see why in this picture. The man in the bobcat can barely see the man on the ground. The noise of the engines makes it very hard for them to hear each other, too.
The last load of brush is being hauled away. We had them pile up the limbs to provide cover for birds in the winter.
The log pile will give us enough firewood for a few years. We use our woodstove for supplemental heat when it is going to be cold for several days.
I counted at least 95 rings in the stump. It is sad to see an older tree like this go, but we couldn't risk having it fall on the house. It looks like the entire chicken flock made it into the picture.
We could have asked Alan to grind the stump, but I decided to remove this one the slow way to save some money and fuel. I drilled about 8 holes in the top of the stump and filled them with fertilizer. The holes let in oxygen, moisture, and nutrients so that fungi can consume the wood as quickly as possible. The core of the tree was already decomposed, so that will help accelerate the process.
Wow lightning! The Native Americans would say you have been visited by a thunderbeing. I grew up with a tree that was hit by lightning before I was born, it was split in half. I always wondered what it looked like when it happened. Your home and farm looks lovely, cute chickens.
Thanks. I think I saw pictures of the ranch where you grew up in one of your posts. It was in Montana or Wyoming wasn't it?
Mom and little sisters moved to Montana when I moved out. I grew up on the Big Island of Hawaii, good memory of Montana, that was one of my first posts :)
That was really a huge tree. Lightning always causes a great damage to us. In front of nature we all are helpless, we only take precautions but not be 100% sure of such calamities. You have taken a great step by cutting down this huge tree.
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STOPVery cool to see this process, @professorbromide. I live in an area that doesn't get thunderstorms (and thus no lighting), and also doesn't have a lot of these super old trees.
A fun suggestion might be to try and grow mushrooms out of the stump...have you thought of that? You could inoculate wood plugs and stuff them into the drill holes, then see if you can grow some shiitake or other types of mushrooms.
I know it's dependent on the type of wood, but thought it could be a fun experiment :)
I have tried growing shiitake mushrooms, but with very little success. We live in an area that has a fair amount of moisture and wild fungus, so it takes some skill to set up a shiitake log. We had better luck with portobello kit that came with its own medium that we grew inside.
Welcome to Steemit, BTW.
Ah, got it. I've been doing a lot of oysters, but they don't require logs as a substrate...coffee grounds will work just fine. Best of luck getting rid of that stump naturally then!
Thanks for the welcome - this community is really cool.
Fortunately no one was injured or hurt. Very interesting, as I have not seen much tall trees except when I am traveling on vacation. Living in the city I missed all these natural vegetations.
Thanks for sharing
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That tree was quite large. We constantly sustain significant damage from lightning. I am aware of a crew that does excellent work caring for trees. They work on both commercial and residential properties, and wichitafallstreeserviceexperts.com is qualified to take down unhealthy or dead trees and grind their stumps without making a mess. Additionally, their staff provides professional tree care solutions that will make you feel confident in the health and well-being of your tree.That tree was quite large. We constantly sustain significant damage from lightning. I am aware of a crew that does excellent work caring for trees. They work on both commercial and residential properties, and wichitafallstreeserviceexperts.com is qualified to take down unhealthy or dead trees and grind their stumps without making a mess. Additionally, their staff provides professional tree care solutions that will make you feel confident in the health and well-being of your tree.
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